Dendera Temple - Amazing ARCHETYPE & ZODIAC pics on the walls - Archetypes

Discussion in 'Ancient Archaeology and New Discoveries' started by CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015.

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    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

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  4. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

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    Posted Nov 20th 2013

    here, i knew i had already started this thread
    back in 2011, and, another one in 2012
    plus what is on the other threads ... i shall copy them all here
    ~ susan lynne schwenger
     
    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
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  5. CULCULCAN

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  6. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

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    FROM THE THREAD:
    Jorgelito - Posted Nov 23rd, 2012

    Who are the people holding up the World?
    In old maps they usually are the Winds.
    These don't look like have any wind bags.
    Jorgelito - Posted Nov 23rd, 2012

    Interesting there are 12. This would correspond to the 12 winds.
    Jorgelito - Posted Nov 23rd, 2012

    Just realized that this is the sky they are holding up. Hmmm.
    SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGEakaTHEeXchanger - Posted Nov 24th, 2012

    YES, Grandfather Sky ;) holds a lot of things, like Grandmother Moon & all the planets & stars :)
     
    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
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  7. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

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      • Coordinates: [​IMG]26°8′30″N 32°40′13″E / 26.14167°N 32.67028°E
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        General view of Dendera Temple complex
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        Temple of Hathor, Dendera
        Dendera Temple complex, (Ancient Egyptian: Iunet or Tantere)
        (19th century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni was Tentyra).
        located about 2.5 km south-east of Dendera, Egypt.
        It is one of the best preserved complexes in Egypt.
        The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos.
        Description


        The massive mudbrick compound walls seen from the temple roof.
        The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall.
        Dendera was a site for chapels or shrines from the beginning of history of ancient Egypt.
        It seems that pharaoh Pepi I (ca. 2250 BC) built on this site and evidence exists of a temple
        in the eighteenth dynasty (ca 1500 BC). But the earliest extant building in the compound today
        is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs (360-343 BC).
        The features in the complex include
        • Hathor temple (the main temple),
        • Temple of the birth of Isis,
        • Sacred Lake,
        • Sanatorium,
        • Mammisi of Nectanebo II,
        • Christian Basilica,
        • Roman Mammisi,
        • a Bark shine,
        • Gateways of Domitian & Trajan and
        • the Roman Kiosk.
        Hathor temple

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        Entrance to the Dendera Temple Complex
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        Reliefs of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion at the Dendera Temple
        The all overshadowing building in the Complex is the main temple, namely Hathor temple
        (historically, called the Temple of Tentyra).
        The temple has been modified on the same site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom,
        and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan.[1]
        The existing structure was built no later than the late Ptolemaic period.
        The temple, dedicated to Hathor, is one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt.
        Subsequent additions were added in Roman times.
        Layout elements of the Temple
        1. Large Hypostyle Hall
        2. Small Hypostyle Hall
        3. Laboratory
        4. Storage Magazine
        5. Offering Entry
        6. Treasury
        7. Exit to Well
        8. Access to Stairwell
        9. Offering Hall
        10. Hall of the Ennead
        11. Great Seat and Main Sanctuary
        12. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
        13. Shrine of Isis
        14. Shrine of Sokar
        15. Shrine of Harsomtus
        16. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
        17. Shrine of gods of lower Egypt
        18. Shrine of Hathor
        19. Shrine of the Throne of Rê
        20. Shrine of Rê
        21. Shrine of Menat collar
        22. Shrine of Ihy
        23. The Pure Place
        24. Court of the First Feast
        25. Passage
        26. Staircase to Roof
        Depictions of Cleopatra VI which appear on temple walls are good examples Ptolemaic Egyptian art.[2]
        One depicts Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion.[3]
        On the rear of the temple exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator
        and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, fathered by Julius Caesar.
        Dendera zodiac

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        Denderah Zodiac
        Main article: Dendera zodiac
        The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known relief
        found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus (the bull)
        and the Libra (the balance).
        A sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt.
        and in 1820 it was removed from the ceiling and is now in the Louvre.
        Champollion's guess that it was Ptolemaic proved correct
        and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC.[4]
        Necropolis and crypts

        The Dendera necropolis is a series of mastaba tombs. The necropolis dates
        from the Early Dynastic Period of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt.[5]
        The necropolis runs the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain.
        The subterranean Hathor temple tombs total 12 chambers.
        Some reliefs are dated to as late as Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos reign.
        The crypts reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography.
        An opening in the "Flame Room" floor leads to a narrow chamber with representations
        on the walls of the objects which were kept in them. In the second chamber,
        a relief depicts Phiops of the Sixth Dynasty.
        He holds a statuette of the Ihi to four images of Hathor.
        In the crypt, reached from the "Throne room", Ptolemy XII
        has jewelry and offerings for the gods.
        The Dendera light

        Main article: Dendera light
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        Dendera light, showing the single representation on the left wall of the right wing in one of the crypts
        Hathor Temple has a relief sometimes known as the Dendera light
        because of a controversial fringe thesis about its nature.
        The Dendera light images comprise three stone reliefs
        (one single and a double representation) in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex
        located in Egypt. The view of Egyptologists is that the relief is a mythological depiction
        of a djed pillar and a lotus flower, spawning a snake within,
        representing aspects of Egyptian mythology.[6][7]
        In contrast to this interpretation, there is an fringe science suggestion that departs significantly
        from the views of Egyptologists arguing that it is actually
        a representation of an Ancient Egyptian lightbulb.
        Tourism

        The Dendera complex has long been one of the most tourist
        accessible ancient Egyptian places
        of worship.
        It used to be possible to visit virtually every part of the complex, from the crypts to the roof.
        Unfortunately the highest part of the roof of Hathor temple has been closed since 2003.
        The second stage of the roof was closed in November 2004,
        after a tourist got too close to the edge and fell to her death on the bedrock below.
        Gallery

        Hathor temple


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        Hathor Temple
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        Hypostyle Hall

        An inner room

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        An inner room
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        Column capitol of Hathor, Dendera
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        Bes at the Temple of Hathor, Dendera

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        Rear view of the Dendera Temple
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        [​IMG]

        [​IMG]

        [​IMG]
        Dendera Light


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        Crypt Ornamentation
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        Double representation on the right wall.
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        Double representation on the right wall.
        See also

        External articles and references

        Citations and notes

        1. ^ Barbara Ann Kipfer, "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology". Page 153
        2. ^ John Pentland Mahaffy, "A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty". Methuen & Co., 1899. 261 pages. Page 237 and 248.
        3. ^ Mahaffy, Page 251.
        4. ^ http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/napoleon/zodiac_dendera.shtml Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt
        5. ^ Barbara Ann Kipfer, "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology".
        6. ^ Wolfgang Waitkus, Die Texte in den unteren Krypten des Hathortempels von Dendera: ihre Aussagen zur Funktion und Bedeutung dieser Räume, Mainz 1997 ISBN 3-8053-2322-0 (tr., The texts in the lower crypts of the Hathor tempels of Dendera: their statements for the function and meaning of these areas)
        7. ^ "Dendera Temple Crypt". iafrica.com.
        General Information

        External links

         Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dendera Temple
        Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Temple_complex"
        Categories: Archaeological sites in Egypt | Ancient Egyptian temples | Former places of worship | 1st-century BC architecture | Hellenistic architecture




        Post last edited 52 Minutes Ago
        The Discovery of Susan Lynne Schwenger & Tony Bermanseder -The alignment of all the tribal calendars showing: The End of The Macha & Pacha Grand Cycle of 16th December 2013 at sunset, and,
        The Start of The Pacha iNTi Grand Cycle of 17th December 2013 at sunrise. Susan was the first person to identify The Grand Cycle change in 1984,as The Last Full Moon in 2013- 17 DEC 2013.
        The Aztec, Mayan, Maori, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis & Native American Tribes had cycles of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13, 18, 20, 52, 60, 180, 260, 360, 360+5, 360+1+5, 23,400, 26,000, 26,001, 52,000, 52,002,
        144,000, 180,000, 1,872,000 & 9,360,000.         The Six (6) Season Calendar aka The Thirteen (13) Moon Calendar aka The Ancient Year begins on The Last Full Moon of Decembe
        r, each and every year.
        She was also the first to align The Celtic Calendar, The Metonic Calendar, The Ancient Egyptian Calendar, The Chinese 60-year Calendar Cycle, etc.,
        The Bermanseder Bible Codes & The Bermanseder Pyramid Formula (which closes the 12 pointed star) can also be aligned to these calendars:
        http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/?page=post&fid=&lastp=1&id=0265D780-C9C1-46C1-80A1-A15795198653
        THE MAIN CODE of THE DRESDEN CODEX THROUGH THE MAYAN SUPER NUMBER 1366560 has been cracked by Tony Bermanseder & Susan Lynne Schwenger
        -- which mathematically proves we live in a 12 level universe http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/...01A0&fid=F3D0C39E-7270-4160-80DE-61A397C1A988

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        SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGEakaTHEeXchanger - Posted 51 Minutes Ago

        Dendera and the Temple of Hathor
        by Mark Andrews
        >> Temple Index
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        Dotted about the landscape of modern Egypt are many ancient temples from the Mediterranean coast all the way to the southern border with the Sudan, most located in the Nile Valley but scattered elsewhere as well. Some of these temples are famous and stand out from the others, such the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, Philae, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu and others. Among these most important temples may also be counted Dendera, which provides examples of a particularly rich variety of later temple features.
        Dendera is located about 60 kilometers north of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile River opposite the provincial modern town of Qena.
        Ancient Egyptian Iunet or Tantere, known to the Greeks as Tentyris, was the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt and a town of some importance. Today, we know it as Dendera,
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        though the population of the town has, since antiquity, moved to Qenaacross the Nile on the east bank. Now, the ancient temple lies isolated on the desert edge.
        Along with the temple itself, there is also a necropolis that includes tombs of the Early Dynastic Period, but the most important phase that has been identified was the end of the Old Kingdom and the 1st Intermediate Period. The provinces were virtually autonomous at that time and, although Dendera was not a leading political force in Upper Egypt, its notables built a number of mastabas of some size, though only one has any decoration apart from stelae and false doors. On the west end of the site are brick-vaulted catacombs of Late Period animal burials, primarily birds and dogs, while cow burials have been found at various points in the necropolis. Of course, this was a significant site for the Hathor cult, whose forms included a cow.
        Suggested Layout of the Temple Proper​
        [​IMG]1. Large Hypostyle Hall
        2. Second, Small Hypostyle Hall
        3. Laboratory
        4. Storage Magazine
        5. Offering Entry
        6. Treasury
        7. Exit to Well
        8. Access to Stairwell
        9. Offering Hall
        10. Hall of the Ennead
        11. Great Seat (central Shrine)/Main Sanctuary
        12. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
        13. Shrine of Isis
        14. Shrine of Sokar
        15. Shrine of Harsomtus
        16. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
        17. Shrine of Gods of Lower Egypt
        18. Shrine of Heathor
        19. Shrine of the Throne of Re
        20: Shrine of Re
        21. Shrine of Menat Collar
        22. Shrine of Ihy
        23. The Pure Place
        24. Court of the First Feast
        25. Passage
        26. Staircase to Roof
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        The main temple complex is oriented, as usual, toward the Nile, which here flows east-west, so that the temple faces north. However, to the ancient Egyptians, this was symbolically east, since the temple faces the Nile.
        The main temple area is fronted by several Roman Period kiosks. After those, the monumental gateway of Domitian and Trajan is set in a massive mud-brick enclosure wall that surrounded the complex, and leads to an open area. Although the site lacks a colonnade and the two pylons which ought to precede the inner temple, an unfinished inner enclosure wall of stone surrounds a courtyard with side entrances which open before the large hypostyle hall added in the 1st century AD by the emperor Tiberius.
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        However, prior to the temple proper is the Roman Period birth house of Dendera on the west, perhaps built by Nero, though more probably by Trajan. Although the dedication inscriptions refer to Trajan, Nero is depicted in the main hypostyle hall of the of the Hathor temple, offering the model of a birth house. This is the latest preserved temple of its type.
        The new sanctuary was well designed and followed Ptolemaic models. In order to match the level of the Hathor temple, the new building was erected on a high platform. A temporary access staircase led up at the side of the platform. The roofing slabs were not positioned, as usual, beneath the level of the cavetto molding around the buildings top, but would have probably been hidden by a parapet wall. The core building contains a sequence of three rooms. Two corridors that isolate the large sanctuary are notable. These passages are too narrow to be used and must have been added for symbolic and optical effect. The rear wall of the sanctuary is dominated by an enormous false door that is framed by a double cavetto molding on slender columns and topped by an uraeus frieze. A cult niche high up in the wall corresponds to the location of the statue niche in the sanctuary of the main temple.
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        Its scenes depict Trajan, Augustus' later successor, making offerings to Hathor, and are among the finest to be found in Egypt. It was the ritual location where Hathor gave birth to the young Ihy or Harsomtus, two alternative youthful deities who stand for the youthful phase of creator gods in general. There are also, of course, figures of the god Bes, a patron of childbirth, carved on the abaci above the column capitals. The reliefs on the exterior walls are superbly preserved, and portray the divine birth and childhood of the infant Horus, whose rites legitimize the divine descent of the king.
        The birth house was surrounded by an ambulatory. The composite capitals of the columns carry high pillars with Bes figures. The frontal ambulatory extended by the addition of three columns into a kind of kiosk, with the front corners formed by L-shaped pillars. The kiosk had a
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        timbered roof that somehow must have connected to the stone structure of the birth house. This merging of the ambulatory with a kiosk is a novelty. At older birth houses, a court was attached as a separate structure.
        The Roman Birth House (mammisi) was built when the earlier structure, begun by Nectanebo I and decorated in the Ptolemaic Period, was cut through by the foundation of the unfinished first court of the main temple of Hathor. Only a false door at the eastern exterior wall of the main temple of Hathor reminds one of the original sanctuary. Originally, this birth house measured about 17 by 20 meters and consisted of a triple shrine opening to a transverse hall. It was built mainly of brick but received an interior stone casing. Within this older structure, the walls of the wide hall depict the Ptolemaic kings offering to Hathor. A scene on the north wall shows the creator god Khnum fashioning the child, Ihy, withHekat the goddess of childbirth seen in her image as a frog.
        Both birth houses are now accessible. They differ considerably in plan and decoration.
        Between the new and old birth houses are the remains of a Christian basilica that can be dated to the 5th century AD. It is an excellent example representative of early Coptic churcharchitecture.
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        High Relief of Bes in the forecourt of the temple at Dendera        ​
        South of the earlier birth house is a mud-brick "sanatorium.. This sanatorium is the only one of its type known in association with an ancient Egyptian temple. Here, visitors could bathe in the sacred waters or spend the night in order to have a healing dream of the goddess. It had benches around its sides where the sick rested while waiting for cures affected by the priests. An inscription on a statue base found in this location
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        suggests that water was poured over magical texts on the statues, causing it to become holy and to cure all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Basins used to collect the holy water can still be seen at the western end.
        To the west of the sanatorium, a small chapel of Nebhepetre' Mentuhotep dating to the 11th Dynasty was recovered from the site and has been re-erected in the Cairo Museum. The building, which has secondary inscriptions of Merneptah, was as much for the cult of the king as for the goddess, and was probably ancillary to the lost main temple of its time.
        The main temple at Dendera is the grandest and most elaborately decorated of its period. It is also one of the most important temple sites of Egypt, providing examples of a rich variety of later temple features. It is also one of the best preserved temples of this period, surviving despite the destruction of the temples of Hathor's consort Horus and their child Ihy or Harsomtus which originally stood close by.
        The massive foundations probably contain many blocks from the earlier structure it replaced. Early texts refer to a temple at Dendera which was rebuilt during the Old Kingdom, and several New Kingdom monarchs, including Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and III are known to have embellished the structure. However, while fragments of earlier periods have been found on the site, there have been no earlier buildings unearthed. Pepi I and Tuthmosis III in particular were recalled in the new temple's inscriptions.
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        The temple of Hathor was constructed over a period, we believe, of thirty-four years, between 54 and 20 BC. When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, the temple was, after four years of building activity, still in its early stages, although it did contain some underground crypts. It seems that the remainder of the temple was build during the twenty-one year reign of his successor, Queen Cleopatra VII. At the time of her death in 30 BC, the decoration work had just begun (on the outer rear wall).
        The temple plan is classical Egyptian, completely enclosed by a 35 by 59 meter wall standing 12.5 meters high. However, unlike those of earlier temples, the facade of the hypostyle hall that fronts the main temple is constructed as a low screen with inter-columnar walls exposing the hall's ceiling and the Hathor style sistrum capitals of its 24 columns. According to a dedication inscription on the cornice thickness above the entrance, this part of the temple was built under Tiberius between 34 and 35 AD. The structure measures 26.03 by 43 meters and is 17.2 meters high. It has an 8 meter long architrave that spans the central intercolumniation. Above, a towering cavetto, built from one course, and the massive volume of the corner tori cast heavy shadows and articulate the edges of the facade.
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        Hathor capitals in the first Hypostyle Hall​
        A sistrum is an ancient Egyptian musical instrument closely associated with Hathor. Each column bears a four-sided capital, which occupies about one third of the column height, carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess, though every one of the faces was vandalized in antiquity (probably during the early Christian Period. The shafts are profusely decorated with scenes, and their straight bases stand on flat plinths. The paint, which was still preserved in the 19th century, was dominated by the blue of Hathor's wig.
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        Nevertheless, the ceiling of this hall retains much of its original color. It is decorated as a complex and carefully aligned symbolic chart of the heavens, including signs of the zodiac (introduced by the Romans) and images of the sky goddess Nut who swallowed the sun disc each evening in order to give birth to it once again at dawn. The outer hypostyle hall was decorated by emperors ranging from Augustus to Nero. Note that at the center of the south outside wall was a relief of a sistrum that was gilded, both to show its importance and to evoke Hathor, the "gold of the gods".
        Since tradition rule that the processional approach should gradually descend from the inside to the outside, the builders had to lower the floor of the central nave of the hypostyle hall to obtain the required progression of floor levels.
        A doorway aligned to the central axis of the temple leads from the large hypostyle hall into an inner hall with six Hathor columns that is known as the hall of appearances. It was here that the statue of the goddess "appeared" from her sanctuary for religious ceremonies and processions. The front wall of this hall was actually the facade of the original temple. Lighting within the hall is provided through small, square apertures. The chamber has columns in two rows of three. They also have Hathor heads. The bases and the lower parts of the drums are made of granite, while the upper parts are of sandstone. Scenes on the walls of this hall depict the king participating in the foundation ceremonies for the construction of the temple, and on either side doors open into three chambers which were used as preparation areas for various aspects of the daily ritual. For example, one room was probably used as a laboratory for preparation of ointments. An opening through the outer eastern wall allowed offering goods to be brought into this area, and a parallel passage from one of the western chambers led to a well.
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        The rear part of the temple was built first, probably in the early 1st century BC. The earliest king named is Ptolemy XII Auletes, but mostly the cartouches are blank, probably because of dynastic struggles in the mid 1st century. This inner core included an offering hall, in which sacrifices were dedicated, and a "hall of the ennead" (also known as the "hall of the cycle of the gods), where statues of other deities assembled with Hathor before a procession began.
        These are followed by a 5.7 by 11.22 meter barque shrine which once enclosed the four barques of Hathor, Horus of Edfu, Harsomtus and Isis, which apparently were not enclosed by wooden shrines.
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        After this small chamber there is the sanctuary of the goddess herself. It is embellished by a splendid, temple-like facade topped by a cavetto with an uraeus frieze. Inside the sanctuary was an expensively decorated wooden naos that held the gilded, two meter high seated cult image ofHathor. The naos stood in a niche of the rear wall, and it is not known how the niche, three meters above the pavement, could be reached. To either side of the this inner sanctuary, the king is depicted offering a copper mirror, one of Hathor's sacred emblems, to the goddess.
        About the central sanctuary on its sides and rear are located eleven chapels dedicated to the other deities who were associated with Hathor's chief attributes, the sacred sistrum and the menatnecklace.
        Within the temple the most distinctive parts are the fourteen crypts, of which eleven were decorated. They far surpass those of other temples. The inclusion of secretly accessed crypts in temples can be traced back to the 18th Dynasty. By the Late Period crypts were included in the architectural design of most temples.
        These are suites of rooms on three (and sometimes even four) stories, set in the thickness of the outside wall, and beneath the floors of the chambers in the rear part of the temple. The elongated, narrow chambers and passages are arranged one above the other, with the lowermost laid deep within the temple foundations. Access was gained through trapdoors in the pavement and behind hidden sliding wall blocks. Unlike other crypts, those at Dendera are decorated in relief. The decorations in these chambers conforms to the temple's axis. The most important reliefs, among which sistra are prominent, were on the axis itself. Apparently, these rooms were decorated before the roof blocks were set.
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        Depiction within the crypts        ​
        François Daumas described the easternmost of the five crypts along the southern end, telling us that:
        "In the last room, one sees, carefully carved on the Southern wall, a falcon with detailed feathers, preceded by a snake emerging from a lotus blossom within a boat. Whereas the whole of the temple is constructed of sandstone, to facilitate a relief of fine quality there was placed in the wall, at the level of the figures, a block of limestone suitable for very detailed work, and of this the artist took full and perfect advantage. These reliefs are cosmological representations. The snake that comes out of the lotus is equated with the shining deity Harsamtawy (Ihy) as he appears for the first time out of the primordial sea. He is again represented near the bottom of the crypt in the form of two snakes also coming forth, but this time wrapped in lotuses like protective envelopes. Sometimes those that were on the Mesktet-barque collaborated with Horus; other times the Mandjet-barque with its crew helped to reveal the god: Djed raises his body, a supreme manner of worship, attendant of the god's prestigious ka. The statuettes appear to have been used for the New Year celebration and the festival of Harsamtawy. It is likely that on these solemn occasions these objects were transported to the vault [i.e. the room above the crypt]."
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        Their main use of these crypts was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple's protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the ba of Hathor.
        Also within the wall thickness are the staircases, which lead up to and return from the roof which, because of the unequal ceiling heights of the rooms below, was built into terraces. The huge roofing slabs must at one time have been covered with thinner paving stones. Their surface was slightly inclined and had channels to guide rainwater from the roof.
        [​IMG]​
        On the roof in the southwest corner is a kiosk, in which the ritual of the goddess's union with the sun disk was performed. It has four Hathor columns on each side. Sockets in its architraves suggest a barrel-shaped timber roof with a double hull and segmented pediment, though for its purpose it must have had roof windows to let in the sun's rays. In the floor of the chapel one may also note the light well for the Horus chapel below, on the main floor.
        The ba of Hathor would have been taken from its hiding place to the roof of the temple for the significant New year's festival celebrated where it would have spent the night prior to beholding the rising sun in a symbolic union with the solar disc.
        François Daumas tells us that:
        "But most prestigious of the statues was that of the ba of Hathor. According to the texts written on the walls, we know that the kiosk consisted of a gold base surmounted by a gold roof supported by four gold posts, covered on all four sides by linen curtains hung from copper rods. Inside was placed the gold statuette representing a bird with a human head capped with a horned disc. This was Hathor, Lady of Dendara, residing in her house... It was certainly this statuette that was carried in the kiosk on the evening of the New Year."
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        Chapel of the New Year        ​
        The staircase to the west of the offering hall, which was used by the priests to ascend to the roof, has ascending figures of the king and various priests with the shrine of the goddess carved on its right hand wall. These representations depict various aspects of the New Year's festival. The stairway to the east has corresponding scenes of descending figures, and was used for the procession's return.
        There is also a pair of parallel shrines on the roof's eastern and western sides dedicated to Osiris. They are concealed in a kind of mezzanine floor. Both of these sanctuaries have open courts, surrounded by a cavetto. From the rear wall of the court, three doors lead into two succeeding chambers.
        In the inner of the two rooms, Isis and Nephthys are shown mourning the death of Osiris, who lies on his funerary bier waiting to be resurrected by magical rituals. Isis is also depicted, magically impregnated with the seed of her son Horus as the myth unfolds.
        [​IMG]​
        A corresponding suite on the eastern side of the roof depicts the lunar festival of Khoiakh in which an 'Osiris bed' was filled with earth and grain seed as part of an important fertility rite. The walls of the first room show scenes of the burial goods of Osiris, including hiscanopic jars and on the ceiling Nut is shown with other astronomical figures. On the other half of the ceiling is a plaster copy of the famous 'Dendera Zodiac', representing the cospic aspect of the Osiris mysteries. The original is now in the Louvre in Paris. The inner room depicts scenes from the Osiris myth, similar to that of the western suite as well as reliefs of cosmic importance.
        Dendera was considered one of Osiris' many tombs, and the shrines, which have no link with Hathor, were used to celebrate his death and resurrection. His death may have been re-enacted at the sacred lake to the west of the temple.
        The roof of the hypostyle hall was reached by another flight of steps with various gods carved along its wall, and this highest area of the temple was used in antiquity by pious pilgrims who awaited signs
        [​IMG]​
        and miracles from the goddess. There remain gaming boards carved into the stone blocks that helped these faithful pass the time during their vigils.
        On the rear outside wall of the temple directly behind the sanctuary, beneath the two lion-headed waterspouts (there are also three more on each of its side walls) which drained rainwater from the roof are scenes showing the massive figure of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, who became the great queen's co-regent as Ptolemy XV. At the center of the wall is the large False Door with a gigantic emblem of Hathor, diminished over the centuries by pilgrims who scraped at it to obtain a little of the sacred stone at the point where they could come closest to Hathor herself. This is
        [​IMG]​
        the location of the "hearing ear" shrine, which allowed the goddess to "hear" the prayers of common folk not otherwise allowed into the main temple.
        Immediately south of the Hathor temple is the temple of Isis, known as the Iseum, which used foundation blocks from a destroyed Ptolemaic building and was decorated under Augustus. The east gateway, also Roman in date, leads to this temple, which is almost unique in having a dual orientation with the outer rooms or main part of the structure and hypostyle hall facing east and the inner ones north toward the temple of Hathor. The central high relief in the sanctuary, which showed Isisgiving birth, has been mutilated. Within the rear wall of the sanctuary a statue of Osiris (now destroyed) was supported by the arms of Isis andNephthys.
        [​IMG]
        Plan of the Isis Birth House at Dendera        ​
        Further to the south, at the temple's southwest corner, lies the compound's sacred lake which provided water for the priests' ablutions. With flights of stairs descending from each corner, this stone-lined ceremonial basin is the best
        [​IMG]​
        preserved of its type in any Egyptian temple. Today, it is empty of water and tall trees grow within its walls. Next to the lake is a well with rock-cut steps leading down to give access to water for daily use in the temple.        ​
        East of the temple was a part of the town, which the temple texts mention as having a temple of Horus of Edfu in its midst. This may be the same as some remains of the Roman Period about 500 meters from the main enclosure. The triads of deities worshiped at Edfu and at Dendera were similar, consisting of Horus, Hathor (or Isis), and Ihy or Harsomtus. Hathor of Dendera and Horus of Edfu met at a sacred "marriage" ceremony, when she made a progress to the south.
        [​IMG]
        Roman Gate East of the Hathor Complex        ​
        References:
        TitleAuthorDatePublisherReference Number
        Art of Ancient Egypt, TheRobins, Gay1997Harvard University PressISBN 0-674-00376-4
        Atlas of Ancient EgyptBaines, John; Malek, Jaromir1980Les Livres De FranceNone Stated
        Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, TheWilkinson, Richard H.2000Thames and Hudson, LtdISBN 0-500-05100-3
        Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul1995Harry N. Abrams, Inc., PublishersISBN 0-8109-3225-3
        Egypt in Late AntiquityBagnall, Roger S.1993Princeton University PressISBN 0-691-1096-x
        History of Ancient Egypt, AGrimal, Nicolas1988BlackwellNone Stated
        Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian2000Oxford University PressISBN 0-19-815034-2
        Sacred Sites of Ancient EgyptOakes, Lorna2001Lorenz BooksISBN (non stated)
        FROM: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dendera.htm

      Post last edited Nov 20th 2013
      The Discovery of Susan Lynne Schwenger & Tony Bermanseder -The alignment of all the ancient & tribal calendars showing: The End of The Macha (9,360,000 days) & Pacha (360 days) Grand Cycle which ends December 16th, 2013 at sunset - and, The Start of The Pacha iNTi (9,360,000 Days) Grand Cycle of December 17th, 2013 at sunrise. Susan Lynne Schwenger was the first person to identify The Grand Cycle change in 1984, as The Last Full Moon in 2013- 17 DEC 2013, in alignment with The Six (6) Season Calendar aka The Ancient Year aka The Calendar Round aka The Thirteen(13) Moon Calendar aka The Six (6) Event Calendar aka The Eight (8) Event Calendar. The Aztec, Mayan, Maori, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis & Native American Tribes also have cycles of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13, 18, 20, 52, 60, 180, 260, 360, 360+5, 360+1+5, 23,400, 26,000, 26,001, 52,000, 52,002, 144,000, 180,000, 1,872,000 & 9,360,000 Days, along with yearly Cycles. She was also the first to align The Celtic Calendar, The Metonic Calendar, The Ancient Egyptian Calendar, The Chinese 60-year Calendar Cycle, and, an assortment of other chinese calendars etc., The Bermanseder Bible Codes & The Bermanseder Pyramid Formula (which closes the 12 pointed star) can also be aligned to these calendars:
      http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/?page=post&id=0265D780-C9C1-46C1-80A1-A15795198653&pageindex=83
      THE MAIN CODE of THE DRESDEN CODEX THROUGH THE MAYAN SUPER NUMBER 1366560 has been cracked by Tony Bermanseder & Susan Lynne Schwenger
      -- which mathematically proves we live in a 12 level universe http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/...01A0&fid=F3D0C39E-7270-4160-80DE-61A397C1A988
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      SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGE - Posted Nov 20th 2013

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      SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGEakaTHEeXchanger - Posted 51 Minutes Ago

      Dendera and the Temple of Hathor
      by Mark Andrews
      >> Temple Index
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      Dotted about the landscape of modern Egypt are many ancient temples from the Mediterranean coast all the way to the southern border with the Sudan, most located in the Nile Valley but scattered elsewhere as well. Some of these temples are famous and stand out from the others, such the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, Philae, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu and others. Among these most important temples may also be counted Dendera, which provides examples of a particularly rich variety of later temple features.
      Dendera is located about 60 kilometers north of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile River opposite the provincial modern town of Qena.
      Ancient Egyptian Iunet or Tantere, known to the Greeks as Tentyris, was the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt and a town of some importance. Today, we know it as Dendera,
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      though the population of the town has, since antiquity, moved to Qena across theNile on the east bank. Now, the ancient temple lies isolated on the desert edge.
      Along with the temple itself, there is also a necropolis that includes tombs of the Early Dynastic Period, but the most important phase that has been identified was the end of the Old Kingdom and the 1stIntermediate Period. The provinces were virtually autonomous at that time and, although Dendera was not a leading political force in Upper Egypt, its notables built a number of mastabas of some size, though only one has any decoration apart from stelae and false doors. On the west end of the site are brick-vaulted catacombs of Late Periodanimal burials, primarily birds and dogs, while cow burials have been found at various points in the necropolis. Of course, this was a significant site for the Hathor cult, whose forms included a cow.
      Suggested Layout of the Temple Proper​
      [​IMG]1. Large Hypostyle Hall
      2. Second, Small Hypostyle Hall
      3. Laboratory
      4. Storage Magazine
      5. Offering Entry
      6. Treasury
      7. Exit to Well
      8. Access to Stairwell
      9. Offering Hall
      10. Hall of the Ennead
      11. Great Seat (central Shrine)/Main Sanctuary
      12. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
      13. Shrine of Isis
      14. Shrine of Sokar
      15. Shrine of Harsomtus
      16. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
      17. Shrine of Gods of Lower Egypt
      18. Shrine of Heathor
      19. Shrine of the Throne of Re
      20: Shrine of Re
      21. Shrine of Menat Collar
      22. Shrine of Ihy
      23. The Pure Place
      24. Court of the First Feast
      25. Passage
      26. Staircase to Roof
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      The main temple complex is oriented, as usual, toward the Nile, which here flows east-west, so that the temple faces north. However, to the ancient Egyptians, this was symbolically east, since the temple faces the Nile.
      The main temple area is fronted by several Roman Period kiosks. After those, the monumental gateway of Domitian and Trajan is set in a massive mud-brick enclosure wall that surrounded the complex, and leads to an open area. Although the site lacks a colonnade and the two pylons which ought to precede the inner temple, an unfinished inner enclosure wall of stone surrounds a courtyard with side entrances which open before the large hypostyle hall added in the 1st century AD by the emperor Tiberius.
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      However, prior to the temple proper is the Roman Period birth house of Dendera on the west, perhaps built by Nero, though more probably by Trajan. Although the dedication inscriptions refer to Trajan, Nero is depicted in the main hypostyle hall of the of the Hathor temple, offering the model of a birth house. This is the latest preserved temple of its type.
      The new sanctuary was well designed and followed Ptolemaic models. In order to match the level of the Hathor temple, the new building was erected on a high platform. A temporary access staircase led up at the side of the platform. The roofing slabs were not positioned, as usual, beneath the level of the cavetto molding around the buildings top, but would have probably been hidden by a parapet wall. The core building contains a sequence of three rooms. Two corridors that isolate the large sanctuary are notable. These passages are too narrow to be used and must have been added for symbolic and optical effect. The rear wall of the sanctuary is dominated by an enormous false door that is framed by a double cavetto molding on slender columns and topped by an uraeus frieze. A cult niche high up in the wall corresponds to the location of the statue niche in the sanctuary of the main temple.
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      Its scenes depict Trajan, Augustus' later successor, making offerings to Hathor, and are among the finest to be found in Egypt. It was the ritual location where Hathor gave birth to the young Ihy or Harsomtus, two alternative youthful deities who stand for the youthful phase of creator gods in general. There are also, of course, figures of the god Bes, a patron of childbirth, carved on the abaci above the column capitals. The reliefs on the exterior walls are superbly preserved, and portray the divine birth and childhood of the infant Horus, whose rites legitimize the divine descent of the king.
      The birth house was surrounded by an ambulatory. The composite capitals of the columns carry high pillars with Bes figures. The frontal ambulatory extended by the addition of three columns into a kind of kiosk, with the front corners formed by L-shaped pillars. The kiosk had a
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      timbered roof that somehow must have connected to the stone structure of the birth house. This merging of the ambulatory with a kiosk is a novelty. At older birth houses, a court was attached as a separate structure.
      The Roman Birth House (mammisi) was built when the earlier structure, begun by Nectanebo I and decorated in the Ptolemaic Period, was cut through by the foundation of the unfinished first court of the main temple of Hathor. Only a false door at the eastern exterior wall of the main temple of Hathor reminds one of the original sanctuary. Originally, this birth house measured about 17 by 20 meters and consisted of a triple shrine opening to a transverse hall. It was built mainly of brick but received an interior stone casing. Within this older structure, the walls of the wide hall depict the Ptolemaic kings offering to Hathor. A scene on the north wall shows the creator god Khnum fashioning the child, Ihy, with Hekat the goddess of childbirth seen in her image as a frog.
      Both birth houses are now accessible. They differ considerably in plan and decoration.
      Between the new and old birth houses are the remains of a Christian basilica that can be dated to the 5th century AD. It is an excellent example representative of early Coptic church architecture.
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      High Relief of Bes in the forecourt of the temple at Dendera      ​
      South of the earlier birth house is a mud-brick "sanatorium.. This sanatorium is the only one of its type known in association with an ancient Egyptian temple. Here, visitors could bathe in the sacred waters or spend the night in order to have a healing dream of the goddess. It had benches around its sides where the sick rested while waiting for cures affected by the priests. An inscription on a statue base found in this location
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      suggests that water was poured over magical texts on the statues, causing it to become holy and to cure all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Basins used to collect the holy water can still be seen at the western end.
      To the west of the sanatorium, a small chapel of Nebhepetre' Mentuhotep dating to the 11th Dynasty was recovered from the site and has been re-erected in the Cairo Museum. The building, which has secondary inscriptions of Merneptah, was as much for the cult of the king as for the goddess, and was probably ancillary to the lost main temple of its time.
      The main temple at Dendera is the grandest and most elaborately decorated of its period. It is also one of the most important temple sites of Egypt, providing examples of a rich variety of later temple features. It is also one of the best preserved temples of this period, surviving despite the destruction of the temples of Hathor's consort Horus and their child Ihy or Harsomtus which originally stood close by.
      The massive foundations probably contain many blocks from the earlier structure it replaced. Early texts refer to a temple at Dendera which was rebuilt during the Old Kingdom, and several New Kingdom monarchs, including Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and III are known to have embellished the structure. However, while fragments of earlier periods have been found on the site, there have been no earlier buildings unearthed. Pepi I and Tuthmosis III in particular were recalled in the new temple's inscriptions.
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      The temple of Hathor was constructed over a period, we believe, of thirty-four years, between 54 and 20 BC. When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, the temple was, after four years of building activity, still in its early stages, although it did contain some underground crypts. It seems that the remainder of the temple was build during the twenty-one year reign of his successor, Queen Cleopatra VII. At the time of her death in 30 BC, the decoration work had just begun (on the outer rear wall).
      The temple plan is classical Egyptian, completely enclosed by a 35 by 59 meter wall standing 12.5 meters high. However, unlike those of earliertemples, the facade of the hypostyle hall that fronts the main temple is constructed as a low screen with inter-columnar walls exposing the hall's ceiling and the Hathor style sistrum capitals of its 24 columns. According to a dedication inscription on the cornice thickness above the entrance, this part of the temple was built under Tiberius between 34 and 35 AD. The structure measures 26.03 by 43 meters and is 17.2 meters high. It has an 8 meter long architrave that spans the central intercolumniation. Above, a towering cavetto, built from one course, and the massive volume of the corner tori cast heavy shadows and articulate the edges of the facade.
      [​IMG]
      Hathor capitals in the first Hypostyle Hall​
      A sistrum is an ancient Egyptian musical instrument closely associated with Hathor. Each column bears a four-sided capital, which occupies about one third of the column height, carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess, though every one of the faces was vandalized in antiquity (probably during the early Christian Period. The shafts are profusely decorated with scenes, and their straight bases stand on flat plinths. The paint, which was still preserved in the 19th century, was dominated by the blue of Hathor's wig.
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      Nevertheless, the ceiling of this hall retains much of its original color. It is decorated as a complex and carefully aligned symbolic chart of the heavens, including signs of the zodiac (introduced by the Romans) and images of the sky goddess Nut who swallowed the sun disc each evening in order to give birth to it once again at dawn. The outer hypostyle hall was decorated by emperors ranging from Augustus to Nero. Note that at the center of the south outside wall was a relief of a sistrum that was gilded, both to show its importance and to evoke Hathor, the "gold of the gods".
      Since tradition rule that the processional approach should gradually descend from the inside to the outside, the builders had to lower the floor of the central nave of the hypostyle hall to obtain the required progression of floor levels.
      A doorway aligned to the central axis of the temple leads from the large hypostyle hall into an inner hall with six Hathor columns that is known as the hall of appearances. It was here that the statue of the goddess "appeared" from her sanctuary for religious ceremonies and processions. The front wall of this hall was actually the facade of the original temple. Lighting within the hall is provided through small, square apertures. The chamber has columns in two rows of three. They also have Hathor heads. The bases and the lower parts of the drums are made of granite, while the upper parts are of sandstone. Scenes on the walls of this hall depict the king participating in the foundation ceremonies for the construction of the temple, and on either side doors open into three chambers which were used as preparation areas for various aspects of the daily ritual. For example, one room was probably used as a laboratory for preparation of ointments. An opening through the outer eastern wall allowed offering goods to be brought into this area, and a parallel passage from one of the western chambers led to a well.
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      The rear part of the temple was built first, probably in the early 1st century BC. The earliest king named is Ptolemy XII Auletes, but mostly the cartouches are blank, probably because of dynastic struggles in the mid 1st century. This inner core included an offering hall, in which sacrifices were dedicated, and a "hall of the ennead" (also known as the "hall of the cycle of the gods), where statues of other deities assembled with Hathor before a procession began.
      These are followed by a 5.7 by 11.22 meter barque shrine which once enclosed the four barques of Hathor, Horus of Edfu, Harsomtus andIsis, which apparently were not enclosed by wooden shrines.
      [​IMG]​
      After this small chamber there is the sanctuary of the goddess herself. It is embellished by a splendid, temple-like facade topped by a cavetto with an uraeus frieze. Inside the sanctuary was an expensively decorated wooden naos that held the gilded, two meter high seated cult image of Hathor. The naos stood in a niche of the rear wall, and it is not known how the niche, three meters above the pavement, could be reached. To either side of the this inner sanctuary, the king is depicted offering a copper mirror, one of Hathor's sacred emblems, to the goddess.
      About the central sanctuary on its sides and rear are located eleven chapels dedicated to the other deities who were associated with Hathor's chief attributes, the sacred sistrum and the menat necklace.
      Within the temple the most distinctive parts are the fourteen crypts, of which eleven were decorated. They far surpass those of other temples. The inclusion of secretly accessed crypts in temples can be traced back to the 18th Dynasty. By the Late Period crypts were included in the architectural design of most temples.
      These are suites of rooms on three (and sometimes even four) stories, set in the thickness of the outside wall, and beneath the floors of the chambers in the rear part of the temple. The elongated, narrow chambers and passages are arranged one above the other, with the lowermost laid deep within the temple foundations. Access was gained through trapdoors in the pavement and behind hidden sliding wall blocks. Unlike other crypts, those at Dendera are decorated in relief. The decorations in these chambers conforms to the temple's axis. The most important reliefs, among which sistra are prominent, were on the axis itself. Apparently, these rooms were decorated before the roof blocks were set.
      [​IMG][​IMG]
      Depiction within the crypts      ​
      François Daumas described the easternmost of the five crypts along the southern end, telling us that:
      "In the last room, one sees, carefully carved on the Southern wall, a falcon with detailed feathers, preceded by a snake emerging from a lotus blossom within a boat. Whereas the whole of the temple is constructed of sandstone, to facilitate a relief of fine quality there was placed in the wall, at the level of the figures, a block of limestone suitable for very detailed work, and of this the artist took full and perfect advantage. These reliefs are cosmological representations. The snake that comes out of the lotus is equated with the shining deity Harsamtawy (Ihy) as he appears for the first time out of the primordial sea. He is again represented near the bottom of the crypt in the form of two snakes also coming forth, but this time wrapped in lotuses like protective envelopes. Sometimes those that were on the Mesktet-barque collaborated with Horus; other times the Mandjet-barque with its crew helped to reveal the god: Djed raises his body, a supreme manner of worship, attendant of the god's prestigious ka. The statuettes appear to have been used for the New Year celebration and the festival of Harsamtawy. It is likely that on these solemn occasions these objects were transported to the vault [i.e. the room above the crypt]."
      [​IMG]​
      Their main use of these crypts was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple's protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the ba of Hathor.
      Also within the wall thickness are the staircases, which lead up to and return from the roof which, because of the unequal ceiling heights of the rooms below, was built into terraces. The huge roofing slabs must at one time have been covered with thinner paving stones. Their surface was slightly inclined and had channels to guide rainwater from the roof.
      [​IMG]​
      On the roof in the southwest corner is a kiosk, in which the ritual of the goddess's union with the sun disk was performed. It has four Hathor columns on each side. Sockets in its architraves suggest a barrel-shaped timber roof with a double hull and segmented pediment, though for its purpose it must have had roof windows to let in the sun's rays. In the floor of the chapel one may also note the light well for the Horus chapel below, on the main floor.
      The ba of Hathor would have been taken from its hiding place to the roof of the temple for the significant New year's festival celebrated where it would have spent the night prior to beholding the rising sun in a symbolic union with the solar disc.
      François Daumas tells us that:
      "But most prestigious of the statues was that of the ba of Hathor. According to the texts written on the walls, we know that the kiosk consisted of a gold base surmounted by a gold roof supported by four gold posts, covered on all four sides by linen curtains hung from copper rods. Inside was placed the gold statuette representing a bird with a human head capped with a horned disc. This was Hathor, Lady of Dendara, residing in her house... It was certainly this statuette that was carried in the kiosk on the evening of the New Year."
      [​IMG]
      Chapel of the New Year      ​
      The staircase to the west of the offering hall, which was used by the priests to ascend to the roof, has ascending figures of the king and various priests with the shrine of the goddess carved on its right hand wall. These representations depict various aspects of the New Year's festival. The stairway to the east has corresponding scenes of descending figures, and was used for the procession's return.
      There is also a pair of parallel shrines on the roof's eastern and western sides dedicated to Osiris. They are concealed in a kind of mezzanine floor. Both of these sanctuaries have open courts, surrounded by a cavetto. From the rear wall of the court, three doors lead into two succeeding chambers.
      In the inner of the two rooms, Isis and Nephthys are shown mourning the death of Osiris, who lies on his funerary bier waiting to be resurrected by magical rituals. Isis is also depicted, magically impregnated with the seed of her son Horus as the myth unfolds.
      [​IMG]​
      A corresponding suite on the eastern side of the roof depicts the lunar festival of Khoiakh in which an 'Osiris bed' was filled with earth and grain seed as part of an important fertility rite. The walls of the first room show scenes of the burial goods of Osiris, including his canopic jarsand on the ceiling Nut is shown with other astronomical figures. On the other half of the ceiling is a plaster copy of the famous 'DenderaZodiac', representing the cospic aspect of the Osiris mysteries. The original is now in the Louvre in Paris. The inner room depicts scenes from the Osiris myth, similar to that of the western suite as well as reliefs of cosmic importance.
      Dendera was considered one of Osiris' many tombs, and the shrines, which have no link with Hathor, were used to celebrate his death and resurrection. His death may have been re-enacted at the sacred lake to the west of the temple.
      The roof of the hypostyle hall was reached by another flight of steps with various gods carved along its wall, and this highest area of the temple was used in antiquity by pious pilgrims who awaited signs
      [​IMG]​
      and miracles from the goddess. There remain gaming boards carved into the stone blocks that helped these faithful pass the time during their vigils.
      On the rear outside wall of the temple directly behind the sanctuary, beneath the two lion-headed waterspouts (there are also three more on each of its side walls) which drained rainwater from the roof are scenes showing the massive figure of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, who became the great queen's co-regent as Ptolemy XV. At the center of the wall is the large False Door with a gigantic emblem of Hathor, diminished over the centuries by pilgrims who scraped at it to obtain a little of the sacred stone at the point where they could come closest to Hathor herself. This is
      [​IMG]​
      the location of the "hearing ear" shrine, which allowed the goddess to "hear" the prayers of common folk not otherwise allowed into the main temple.
      Immediately south of the Hathor temple is the temple of Isis, known as the Iseum, which used foundation blocks from a destroyed Ptolemaic building and was decorated under Augustus. The east gateway, also Roman in date, leads to this temple, which is almost unique in having a dual orientation with the outer rooms or main part of the structure and hypostyle hall facing east and the inner ones north toward the temple of Hathor. The central high relief in the sanctuary, which showed Isis giving birth, has been mutilated. Within the rear wall of the sanctuary a statue of Osiris (now destroyed) was supported by the arms of Isis and Nephthys.
      [​IMG]
      Plan of the Isis Birth House at Dendera      ​
      Further to the south, at the temple's southwest corner, lies the compound's sacred lake which provided water for the priests' ablutions. With flights of stairs descending from each corner, this stone-lined ceremonial basin is the best
      [​IMG]​
      preserved of its type in any Egyptian temple. Today, it is empty of water and tall trees grow within its walls. Next to the lake is a well with rock-cut steps leading down to give access to water for daily use in the temple.      ​
      East of the temple was a part of the town, which the temple texts mention as having a temple of Horus of Edfu in its midst. This may be the same as some remains of the Roman Period about 500 meters from the main enclosure. The triads of deities worshiped at Edfu and at Dendera were similar, consisting of Horus, Hathor (or Isis), and Ihy or Harsomtus. Hathor of Dendera and Horus of Edfu met at a sacred "marriage" ceremony, when she made a progress to the south.
      [​IMG]
      Roman Gate East of the Hathor Complex      ​
      References:
      TitleAuthorDatePublisherReference Number
      Art of Ancient Egypt, TheRobins, Gay1997Harvard University PressISBN 0-674-00376-4
      Atlas of Ancient EgyptBaines, John; Malek, Jaromir1980Les Livres De FranceNone Stated
      Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, TheWilkinson, Richard H.2000Thames and Hudson, LtdISBN 0-500-05100-3
      Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul1995Harry N. Abrams, Inc., PublishersISBN 0-8109-3225-3
      Egypt in Late AntiquityBagnall, Roger S.1993Princeton University PressISBN 0-691-1096-x
      History of Ancient Egypt, AGrimal, Nicolas1988BlackwellNone Stated
      Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian2000Oxford University PressISBN 0-19-815034-2
      Sacred Sites of Ancient EgyptOakes, Lorna2001Lorenz BooksISBN (non stated)
      FROM: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dendera.htm
     
    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
    #7
  8. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

    Messages:
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    The Egypt Connection
    EGYPTIANS IN THE AMERICAS
    ABYDOS - AHMOSE I - AKHENATON - AMARNA
    AMENHOTEP I - AY - DENDERA - EGYPTIAN GODS
    GIZA - HATSHEPSUT - HERMES - KARNAK - KIYA
    LUXOR - MERYTATEN - MOSES- MYSTERY SCHOOLS
    NEFERTITI -P'TAAH - RA-TA - ISIS - SAQQARA
    SITAMUN - SMENKHKARE - THEBES - THOTH - TIYE
    TUTANKHAMUN -YUYA - ZOSER    ​
    • DENDERA
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    Dendera Temple complex

     
      • Coordinates: [​IMG]26°8′30″N 32°40′13″E / 26.14167°N 32.67028°E [​IMG] [​IMG] General view of Dendera Temple complex [​IMG] [​IMG] Temple of Hathor, Dendera Dendera Temple complex, (Ancient Egyptian: Iunet or Tantere) (19th century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni was Tentyra). located about 2.5 km south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best preserved complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos. Description The massive mudbrick compound walls seen from the temple roof. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall. Dendera was a site for chapels or shrines from the beginning of history of ancient Egypt. It seems that pharaoh Pepi I (ca. 2250 BC) built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the eighteenth dynasty (ca 1500 BC). But the earliest extant building in the compound today is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs (360-343 BC). The features in the complex include
        • Hathor temple (the main temple),
        • Temple of the birth of Isis,
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        • Sacred Lake,
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        • Sanatorium,
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        • Mammisi of Nectanebo II,
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        • Christian Basilica,
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        • Roman Mammisi,
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        • a Bark shine,
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        • Gateways of Domitian & Trajan and
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        • the Roman Kiosk.
        ​
        Hathor temple [​IMG] [​IMG] Entrance to the Dendera Temple Complex [​IMG] [​IMG] Reliefs of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion at the Dendera Temple The all overshadowing building in the Complex is the main temple, namely Hathor temple (historically, called the Temple of Tentyra). The temple has been modified on the same site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom, and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan.[1] The existing structure was built no later than the late Ptolemaic period. The temple, dedicated to Hathor, is one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt. Subsequent additions were added in Roman times. Layout elements of the Temple​
        1. Large Hypostyle Hall
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        1. Small Hypostyle Hall
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        1. Laboratory
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        1. Storage Magazine
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        1. Offering Entry
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        1. Treasury
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        1. Exit to Well
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        1. Access to Stairwell
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        1. Offering Hall
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        1. Hall of the Ennead
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        1. Great Seat and Main Sanctuary
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        1. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
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        1. Shrine of Isis
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        1. Shrine of Sokar
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        1. Shrine of Harsomtus
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        1. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
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        1. Shrine of gods of lower Egypt
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        1. Shrine of Hathor
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        1. Shrine of the Throne of Rê
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        1. Shrine of Rê
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        1. Shrine of Menat collar
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        1. Shrine of Ihy
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        1. The Pure Place
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        1. Court of the First Feast
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        1. Passage
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        1. Staircase to Roof
        ​
        Depictions of Cleopatra VI which appear on temple walls are good examples Ptolemaic Egyptian art.[2] One depicts Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion.[3] On the rear of the temple exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, fathered by Julius Caesar. Dendera zodiac [​IMG]Denderah Zodiac Main article: Dendera zodiac The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the balance). A sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. and in 1820 it was removed from the ceiling and is now in the Louvre. Champollion's guess that it was Ptolemaic proved correct and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC.[4] Necropolis and crypts The Dendera necropolis is a series of mastaba tombs. The necropolis dates from the Early Dynastic Period of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt.[5] The necropolis runs the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain. The subterranean Hathor temple tombs total 12 chambers. Some reliefs are dated to as late as Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos reign. The crypts reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography. An opening in the "Flame Room" floor leads to a narrow chamber with representations on the walls of the objects which were kept in them. In the second chamber, a relief depicts Phiops of the Sixth Dynasty. He holds a statuette of the Ihi to four images of Hathor. In the crypt, reached from the "Throne room", Ptolemy XII has jewelry and offerings for the gods. The Dendera light Main article: Dendera light [​IMG] [​IMG] ​
        Dendera light, ​
        showing the single representation ​
        on the left wall of the right wing in one of the crypts ​

        ​
        Hathor Temple ​
        has a relief sometimes known as the Dendera light ​
        because of a controversial fringe thesis ​
        about its nature. ​

        ​
        The Dendera light images comprise three stone reliefs ​
        (one single and a double representation) in the Hathor temple​
        at the Dendera Temple​
        complex located in Egypt. ​

        ​
        The view of Egyptologists is that the relief is a mythological depiction ​
        of a djed pillar and a lotus flower, spawning a snake within, ​
        representing aspects of Egyptian mythology.[6][7] ​

        ​
        In contrast to this interpretation, there is an fringe science suggestion ​
        that departs significantly from the views of Egyptologists arguing that it is actually a representation of an Ancient Egyptian lightbulb.​

        ​
        Tourism The Dendera complex has long been one of the most tourist accessible ancient Egyptian places of worship. It used to be possible to visit virtually every part of the complex, from the crypts to the roof. Unfortunately the highest part of the roof of Hathor temple has been closed since 2003. The second stage of the roof was closed in November 2004, after a tourist got too close to the edge and fell to her death on the bedrock below. Gallery Hathor temple​


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        Hathor Temple

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        Hypostyle Hall



        An inner room


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        An inner room

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        Column capitol of Hathor, Dendera

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        Bes at the Temple of Hathor, Dendera


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        Rear view of the Dendera Temple

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        Dendera Light​


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        Crypt Ornamentation

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        Double representation on the right wall.

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        Double representation on the right wall.
        See also​
        • Esna temple (in Esna)
        ​
        • Egyptian mythology
        ​
        • List of Ancient Egyptian sites
        ​
        External articles and references Citations and notes​
        1. ^ Barbara Ann Kipfer, "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology".Page 153
        ​
        1. ^ John Pentland Mahaffy, "A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty". Methuen & Co., 1899. 261 pages. Page 237 and 248.
        ​
        1. ^ Mahaffy, Page 251.
        ​
        1. ^ http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits /napoleon/zodiac_dendera.shtml Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt
        ​
        1. ^ Barbara Ann Kipfer, "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology".
        ​
        1. ^ Wolfgang Waitkus, Die Texte in den unteren Krypten des Hathortempels von Dendera: ihre Aussagen zur Funktion und Bedeutung dieser Räume, Mainz 1997 ISBN 3-8053-2322-0 (tr., The texts in the lower crypts of the Hathor tempels of Dendera: their statements for the function and meaning of these areas)
        ​
        1. ^ "Dendera Temple Crypt". iafrica.com.
        ​
        General Information​
        • Jed Z. Buchwald, "Egyptian Stars under Paris Skies". pr.caltech.edu.
        ​
        • R. A. Parker, "Ancient Egyptian Astronomy". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 276, No. 1257, The Place of Astronomy in the Ancient World (May 2, 1974), pp. 51-65
        ​
        • Marshall Clagett, "Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book". Diane, 1989. ISBN 0871692147
        ​
        • William Henry and Davenport Adams "Egypt Past and Present: Described and Illustrated". T. Nelson and Sons, 1885. 380 pages. Page 218 - 226
        ​
        • The Dendera Reliefs, Catchpenny Mysteries.
        ​
        • Frank Dörnenburg, Electric lights in Egypt?. 2004. (ed. An analysis of how the Egyptians didn't have electricity).
        ​
        • Mariette, Auguste, Dendérah , Bookshop A. Franck, Paris, 1875.
        ​
        • Fischer, H.G., Dendera in the third millennium B.C. down to the theban domination of upper Egypt, J.J. Augustin publisher, New York, 1968.
        ​
        External links​
         Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dendera Temple
        • Dendera Temple complex. satellite-sightseer.com.
        ​
        • Dendera: Temple of Hathor, LexicOrient. 2005.
        ​
        • L'intérieur du temple d'Hathor à Dendera (French; Interior of the temple of Hathor with Dendera)
        ​
        • Dendera (French)
        ​
        • The Temple of Dendera. touregypt.net.
        ​
        • Dendera and the Temple of Hathor
        ​
        • Christopher P. Dunn, "Advanced Machines in Ancient Egypt". The global education project.org.
        ​
        • "Modern Past - Ancient Hi Tech Evidences". bibliotecapleyades.net. (ed., Batteries and electricity)
        ​
        • "Dendera Temple, Dedicated to the Goddess Hathor". eriding.net.
        ​
        • Shepherd Simpson, "Dendera Zodiacs". Galactic Astrologer.
        ​

        Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Temple_complex"
        Categories: Archaeological sites in Egypt | Ancient Egyptian temples
        | Former places of worship | 1st-century BC architecture | Hellenistic architecture



        ​
        Post last edited 52 Minutes Ago


        ​
        The Discovery of Susan Lynne Schwenger
      • & Tony Bermanseder -The alignment of all the tribal calendars showing: The End of The Macha & Pacha Grand Cycle of 16th December 2013 at sunset, and,
        The Start of The Pacha iNTi Grand Cycle of 17th December 2013 at sunrise. Susan was the first person to identify The Grand Cycle change in 1984,as The Last Full Moon in 2013- 17 DEC 2013.
        The Aztec, Mayan, Maori, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis & Native American Tribes had cycles of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13, 18, 20, 52, 60, 180, 260, 360, 360+5, 360+1+5, 23,400, 26,000, 26,001, 52,000, 52,002,
        144,000, 180,000, 1,872,000 & 9,360,000.         The Six (6) Season Calendar aka The Thirteen (13) Moon Calendar aka The Ancient Year begins on The Last Full Moon of December, each and every year.
        She was also the first to align The Celtic Calendar, The Metonic Calendar, The Ancient Egyptian Calendar, The Chinese 60-year Calendar Cycle, etc.,
        The Bermanseder Bible Codes & The Bermanseder Pyramid Formula (which closes the 12 pointed star) can also be aligned to these calendars:

      • http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/?page=post&fid=&lastp=1&id=0265D780-C9C1-46C1-80A1-A15795198653

      • THE MAIN CODE of THE DRESDEN CODEX THROUGH THE MAYAN SUPER NUMBER 1366560 has been cracked by Tony Bermanseder & Susan Lynne Schwenger
        -- which mathematically proves we live in a 12 level universe
      • http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/...01A0&fid=F3D0C39E-7270-4160-80DE-61A397C1A988
        Posts: 7474


        Dendera and the Temple of Hathor
        by Mark Andrews
        >> Temple Index
        [​IMG]​
        Dotted about the landscape of modern Egypt
      • are many ancient temples from the Mediterranean coast
      • all the way to the southern border with the Sudan,
      • most located in the Nile Valley but scattered elsewhere as well. Some of these temples are famous and stand out from the others, such the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, Philae, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu and others. Among these most important temples may also be counted Dendera, which provides examples of a particularly rich variety of later temple features.
        Dendera is located about 60 kilometers north of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile River opposite the provincial modern town of Qena.
        Ancient Egyptian Iunet or Tantere, known to the Greeks as Tentyris, was the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt and a town of some importance. Today, we know it as Dendera,
        [​IMG]​
        though the population of the town has, since antiquity, moved to Qenaacross the Nile on the east bank. Now, the ancient temple lies isolated on the desert edge.
        Along with the temple itself, there is also a necropolis that includes tombs of the Early Dynastic Period, but the most important phase that has been identified was the end of the Old Kingdom and the 1st Intermediate Period. The provinces were virtually autonomous at that time and, although Dendera was not a leading political force in Upper Egypt, its notables built a number of mastabas of some size, though only one has any decoration apart from stelae and false doors. On the west end of the site are brick-vaulted catacombs of Late Period animal burials, primarily birds and dogs, while cow burials have been found at various points in the necropolis. Of course, this was a significant site for the Hathor cult, whose forms included a cow.
        Suggested Layout of the Temple Proper​
        [​IMG]1. Large Hypostyle Hall
        2. Second, Small Hypostyle Hall
        3. Laboratory
        4. Storage Magazine
        5. Offering Entry
        6. Treasury
        7. Exit to Well
        8. Access to Stairwell
        9. Offering Hall
        10. Hall of the Ennead
        11. Great Seat (central Shrine)/Main Sanctuary
        12. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
        13. Shrine of Isis
        14. Shrine of Sokar
        15. Shrine of Harsomtus
        16. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
        17. Shrine of Gods of Lower Egypt
        18. Shrine of Heathor
        19. Shrine of the Throne of Re
        20: Shrine of Re
        21. Shrine of Menat Collar
        22. Shrine of Ihy
        23. The Pure Place
        24. Court of the First Feast
        25. Passage
        26. Staircase to Roof
        [​IMG]​
        The main temple complex is oriented, as usual, toward the Nile, which here flows east-west, so that the temple faces north. However, to the ancient Egyptians, this was symbolically east, since the temple faces the Nile.
        The main temple area is fronted by several Roman Period kiosks. After those, the monumental gateway of Domitian and Trajan is set in a massive mud-brick enclosure wall that surrounded the complex, and leads to an open area. Although the site lacks a colonnade and the two pylons which ought to precede the inner temple, an unfinished inner enclosure wall of stone surrounds a courtyard with side entrances which open before the large hypostyle hall added in the 1st century AD by the emperor Tiberius.
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        However, prior to the temple proper is the Roman Period birth house of Dendera on the west, perhaps built by Nero, though more probably by Trajan. Although the dedication inscriptions refer to Trajan, Nero is depicted in the main hypostyle hall of the of the Hathor temple, offering the model of a birth house. This is the latest preserved temple of its type.
        The new sanctuary was well designed and followed Ptolemaic models. In order to match the level of the Hathor temple, the new building was erected on a high platform. A temporary access staircase led up at the side of the platform. The roofing slabs were not positioned, as usual, beneath the level of the cavetto molding around the buildings top, but would have probably been hidden by a parapet wall. The core building contains a sequence of three rooms. Two corridors that isolate the large sanctuary are notable. These passages are too narrow to be used and must have been added for symbolic and optical effect. The rear wall of the sanctuary is dominated by an enormous false door that is framed by a double cavetto molding on slender columns and topped by an uraeus frieze. A cult niche high up in the wall corresponds to the location of the statue niche in the sanctuary of the main temple.
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        Its scenes depict Trajan, Augustus' later successor, making offerings to Hathor, and are among the finest to be found in Egypt. It was the ritual location where Hathor gave birth to the young Ihy or Harsomtus, two alternative youthful deities who stand for the youthful phase of creator gods in general. There are also, of course, figures of the god Bes, a patron of childbirth, carved on the abaci above the column capitals. The reliefs on the exterior walls are superbly preserved, and portray the divine birth and childhood of the infant Horus, whose rites legitimize the divine descent of the king.
        The birth house was surrounded by an ambulatory. The composite capitals of the columns carry high pillars with Bes figures. The frontal ambulatory extended by the addition of three columns into a kind of kiosk, with the front corners formed by L-shaped pillars. The kiosk had a
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        timbered roof that somehow must have connected to the stone structure of the birth house. This merging of the ambulatory with a kiosk is a novelty. At older birth houses, a court was attached as a separate structure.
        The Roman Birth House (mammisi) was built when the earlier structure, begun by Nectanebo I and decorated in the Ptolemaic Period, was cut through by the foundation of the unfinished first court of the main temple of Hathor. Only a false door at the eastern exterior wall of the main temple of Hathor reminds one of the original sanctuary. Originally, this birth house measured about 17 by 20 meters and consisted of a triple shrine opening to a transverse hall. It was built mainly of brick but received an interior stone casing. Within this older structure, the walls of the wide hall depict the Ptolemaic kings offering to Hathor. A scene on the north wall shows the creator god Khnum fashioning the child, Ihy, withHekat the goddess of childbirth seen in her image as a frog.
        Both birth houses are now accessible. They differ considerably in plan and decoration.
        Between the new and old birth houses are the remains of a Christian basilica that can be dated to the 5th century AD. It is an excellent example representative of early Coptic churcharchitecture.
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        High Relief of Bes in the forecourt of the temple at Dendera        ​
        South of the earlier birth house is a mud-brick "sanatorium.. This sanatorium is the only one of its type known in association with an ancient Egyptian temple. Here, visitors could bathe in the sacred waters or spend the night in order to have a healing dream of the goddess. It had benches around its sides where the sick rested while waiting for cures affected by the priests. An inscription on a statue base found in this location
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        suggests that water was poured over magical texts on the statues, causing it to become holy and to cure all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Basins used to collect the holy water can still be seen at the western end.
        To the west of the sanatorium, a small chapel of Nebhepetre' Mentuhotep dating to the 11th Dynasty was recovered from the site and has been re-erected in the Cairo Museum. The building, which has secondary inscriptions of Merneptah, was as much for the cult of the king as for the goddess, and was probably ancillary to the lost main temple of its time.
        The main temple at Dendera is the grandest and most elaborately decorated of its period. It is also one of the most important temple sites of Egypt, providing examples of a rich variety of later temple features. It is also one of the best preserved temples of this period, surviving despite the destruction of the temples of Hathor's consort Horus and their child Ihy or Harsomtus which originally stood close by.
        The massive foundations probably contain many blocks from the earlier structure it replaced. Early texts refer to a temple at Dendera which was rebuilt during the Old Kingdom, and several New Kingdom monarchs, including Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and III are known to have embellished the structure. However, while fragments of earlier periods have been found on the site, there have been no earlier buildings unearthed. Pepi I and Tuthmosis III in particular were recalled in the new temple's inscriptions.
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        The temple of Hathor was constructed over a period, we believe, of thirty-four years, between 54 and 20 BC. When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, the temple was, after four years of building activity, still in its early stages, although it did contain some underground crypts. It seems that the remainder of the temple was build during the twenty-one year reign of his successor, Queen Cleopatra VII. At the time of her death in 30 BC, the decoration work had just begun (on the outer rear wall).
        The temple plan is classical Egyptian, completely enclosed by a 35 by 59 meter wall standing 12.5 meters high. However, unlike those of earlier temples, the facade of the hypostyle hall that fronts the main temple is constructed as a low screen with inter-columnar walls exposing the hall's ceiling and the Hathor style sistrum capitals of its 24 columns. According to a dedication inscription on the cornice thickness above the entrance, this part of the temple was built under Tiberius between 34 and 35 AD. The structure measures 26.03 by 43 meters and is 17.2 meters high. It has an 8 meter long architrave that spans the central intercolumniation. Above, a towering cavetto, built from one course, and the massive volume of the corner tori cast heavy shadows and articulate the edges of the facade.
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        Hathor capitals in the first Hypostyle Hall​
        A sistrum is an ancient Egyptian musical instrument closely associated with Hathor. Each column bears a four-sided capital, which occupies about one third of the column height, carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess, though every one of the faces was vandalized in antiquity (probably during the early Christian Period. The shafts are profusely decorated with scenes, and their straight bases stand on flat plinths. The paint, which was still preserved in the 19th century, was dominated by the blue of Hathor's wig.
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        Nevertheless, the ceiling of this hall retains much of its original color. It is decorated as a complex and carefully aligned symbolic chart of the heavens, including signs of the zodiac (introduced by the Romans) and images of the sky goddess Nut who swallowed the sun disc each evening in order to give birth to it once again at dawn. The outer hypostyle hall was decorated by emperors ranging from Augustus to Nero. Note that at the center of the south outside wall was a relief of a sistrum that was gilded, both to show its importance and to evoke Hathor, the "gold of the gods".
        Since tradition rule that the processional approach should gradually descend from the inside to the outside, the builders had to lower the floor of the central nave of the hypostyle hall to obtain the required progression of floor levels.
        A doorway aligned to the central axis of the temple leads from the large hypostyle hall into an inner hall with six Hathor columns that is known as the hall of appearances. It was here that the statue of the goddess "appeared" from her sanctuary for religious ceremonies and processions. The front wall of this hall was actually the facade of the original temple. Lighting within the hall is provided through small, square apertures. The chamber has columns in two rows of three. They also have Hathor heads. The bases and the lower parts of the drums are made of granite, while the upper parts are of sandstone. Scenes on the walls of this hall depict the king participating in the foundation ceremonies for the construction of the temple, and on either side doors open into three chambers which were used as preparation areas for various aspects of the daily ritual. For example, one room was probably used as a laboratory for preparation of ointments. An opening through the outer eastern wall allowed offering goods to be brought into this area, and a parallel passage from one of the western chambers led to a well.
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        The rear part of the temple was built first, probably in the early 1st century BC. The earliest king named is Ptolemy XII Auletes, but mostly the cartouches are blank, probably because of dynastic struggles in the mid 1st century. This inner core included an offering hall, in which sacrifices were dedicated, and a "hall of the ennead" (also known as the "hall of the cycle of the gods), where statues of other deities assembled with Hathor before a procession began.
        These are followed by a 5.7 by 11.22 meter barque shrine which once enclosed the four barques of Hathor, Horus of Edfu, Harsomtus and Isis, which apparently were not enclosed by wooden shrines.
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        After this small chamber there is the sanctuary of the goddess herself. It is embellished by a splendid, temple-like facade topped by a cavetto with an uraeus frieze. Inside the sanctuary was an expensively decorated wooden naos that held the gilded, two meter high seated cult image ofHathor. The naos stood in a niche of the rear wall, and it is not known how the niche, three meters above the pavement, could be reached. To either side of the this inner sanctuary, the king is depicted offering a copper mirror, one of Hathor's sacred emblems, to the goddess.
        About the central sanctuary on its sides and rear are located eleven chapels dedicated to the other deities who were associated with Hathor's chief attributes, the sacred sistrum and the menatnecklace.
        Within the temple the most distinctive parts are the fourteen crypts, of which eleven were decorated. They far surpass those of other temples. The inclusion of secretly accessed crypts in temples can be traced back to the 18th Dynasty. By the Late Period crypts were included in the architectural design of most temples.
        These are suites of rooms on three (and sometimes even four) stories, set in the thickness of the outside wall, and beneath the floors of the chambers in the rear part of the temple. The elongated, narrow chambers and passages are arranged one above the other, with the lowermost laid deep within the temple foundations. Access was gained through trapdoors in the pavement and behind hidden sliding wall blocks. Unlike other crypts, those at Dendera are decorated in relief. The decorations in these chambers conforms to the temple's axis. The most important reliefs, among which sistra are prominent, were on the axis itself. Apparently, these rooms were decorated before the roof blocks were set.
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        Depiction within the crypts        ​
        François Daumas described the easternmost of the five crypts along the southern end, telling us that:
        "In the last room, one sees, carefully carved on the Southern wall, a falcon with detailed feathers, preceded by a snake emerging from a lotus blossom within a boat. Whereas the whole of the temple is constructed of sandstone, to facilitate a relief of fine quality there was placed in the wall, at the level of the figures, a block of limestone suitable for very detailed work, and of this the artist took full and perfect advantage. These reliefs are cosmological representations. The snake that comes out of the lotus is equated with the shining deity Harsamtawy (Ihy) as he appears for the first time out of the primordial sea. He is again represented near the bottom of the crypt in the form of two snakes also coming forth, but this time wrapped in lotuses like protective envelopes. Sometimes those that were on the Mesktet-barque collaborated with Horus; other times the Mandjet-barque with its crew helped to reveal the god: Djed raises his body, a supreme manner of worship, attendant of the god's prestigious ka. The statuettes appear to have been used for the New Year celebration and the festival of Harsamtawy. It is likely that on these solemn occasions these objects were transported to the vault [i.e. the room above the crypt]."
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        Their main use of these crypts was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple's protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the ba of Hathor.
        Also within the wall thickness are the staircases, which lead up to and return from the roof which, because of the unequal ceiling heights of the rooms below, was built into terraces. The huge roofing slabs must at one time have been covered with thinner paving stones. Their surface was slightly inclined and had channels to guide rainwater from the roof.
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        On the roof in the southwest corner is a kiosk, in which the ritual of the goddess's union with the sun disk was performed. It has four Hathor columns on each side. Sockets in its architraves suggest a barrel-shaped timber roof with a double hull and segmented pediment, though for its purpose it must have had roof windows to let in the sun's rays. In the floor of the chapel one may also note the light well for the Horus chapel below, on the main floor.
        The ba of Hathor would have been taken from its hiding place to the roof of the temple for the significant New year's festival celebrated where it would have spent the night prior to beholding the rising sun in a symbolic union with the solar disc.
        François Daumas tells us that:
        "But most prestigious of the statues was that of the ba of Hathor. According to the texts written on the walls, we know that the kiosk consisted of a gold base surmounted by a gold roof supported by four gold posts, covered on all four sides by linen curtains hung from copper rods. Inside was placed the gold statuette representing a bird with a human head capped with a horned disc. This was Hathor, Lady of Dendara, residing in her house... It was certainly this statuette that was carried in the kiosk on the evening of the New Year."
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        Chapel of the New Year        ​
        The staircase to the west of the offering hall, which was used by the priests to ascend to the roof, has ascending figures of the king and various priests with the shrine of the goddess carved on its right hand wall. These representations depict various aspects of the New Year's festival. The stairway to the east has corresponding scenes of descending figures, and was used for the procession's return.
        There is also a pair of parallel shrines on the roof's eastern and western sides dedicated to Osiris. They are concealed in a kind of mezzanine floor. Both of these sanctuaries have open courts, surrounded by a cavetto. From the rear wall of the court, three doors lead into two succeeding chambers.
        In the inner of the two rooms, Isis and Nephthys are shown mourning the death of Osiris, who lies on his funerary bier waiting to be resurrected by magical rituals. Isis is also depicted, magically impregnated with the seed of her son Horus as the myth unfolds.
        [​IMG]​
        A corresponding suite on the eastern side of the roof depicts the lunar festival of Khoiakh in which an 'Osiris bed' was filled with earth and grain seed as part of an important fertility rite. The walls of the first room show scenes of the burial goods of Osiris, including hiscanopic jars and on the ceiling Nut is shown with other astronomical figures. On the other half of the ceiling is a plaster copy of the famous 'Dendera Zodiac', representing the cospic aspect of the Osiris mysteries. The original is now in the Louvre in Paris. The inner room depicts scenes from the Osiris myth, similar to that of the western suite as well as reliefs of cosmic importance.
        Dendera was considered one of Osiris' many tombs, and the shrines, which have no link with Hathor, were used to celebrate his death and resurrection. His death may have been re-enacted at the sacred lake to the west of the temple.
        The roof of the hypostyle hall was reached by another flight of steps with various gods carved along its wall, and this highest area of the temple was used in antiquity by pious pilgrims who awaited signs
        [​IMG]​
        and miracles from the goddess. There remain gaming boards carved into the stone blocks that helped these faithful pass the time during their vigils.
        On the rear outside wall of the temple directly behind the sanctuary, beneath the two lion-headed waterspouts (there are also three more on each of its side walls) which drained rainwater from the roof are scenes showing the massive figure of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, who became the great queen's co-regent as Ptolemy XV. At the center of the wall is the large False Door with a gigantic emblem of Hathor, diminished over the centuries by pilgrims who scraped at it to obtain a little of the sacred stone at the point where they could come closest to Hathor herself. This is
        [​IMG]​
        the location of the "hearing ear" shrine, which allowed the goddess to "hear" the prayers of common folk not otherwise allowed into the main temple.
        Immediately south of the Hathor temple is the temple of Isis, known as the Iseum, which used foundation blocks from a destroyed Ptolemaic building and was decorated under Augustus. The east gateway, also Roman in date, leads to this temple, which is almost unique in having a dual orientation with the outer rooms or main part of the structure and hypostyle hall facing east and the inner ones north toward the temple of Hathor. The central high relief in the sanctuary, which showed Isisgiving birth, has been mutilated. Within the rear wall of the sanctuary a statue of Osiris (now destroyed) was supported by the arms of Isis andNephthys.
        [​IMG]
        Plan of the Isis Birth House at Dendera        ​
        Further to the south, at the temple's southwest corner, lies the compound's sacred lake which provided water for the priests' ablutions. With flights of stairs descending from each corner, this stone-lined ceremonial basin is the best
        [​IMG]
        preserved of its type in any Egyptian temple. Today, it is empty of water and tall trees grow within its walls. Next to the lake is a well with rock-cut steps leading down to give access to water for daily use in the temple.        ​
        East of the temple was a part of the town, which the temple texts mention as having a temple of Horus of Edfu in its midst. This may be the same as some remains of the Roman Period about 500 meters from the main enclosure. The triads of deities worshiped at Edfu and at Dendera were similar, consisting of Horus, Hathor (or Isis), and Ihy or Harsomtus. Hathor of Dendera and Horus of Edfu met at a sacred "marriage" ceremony, when she made a progress to the south.
        [​IMG]
        Roman Gate East of the Hathor Complex        ​
        References:
        TitleAuthorDatePublisherReference Number
        Art of Ancient Egypt, TheRobins, Gay1997Harvard University PressISBN 0-674-00376-4
        Atlas of Ancient EgyptBaines, John; Malek, Jaromir1980Les Livres De FranceNone Stated
        Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, TheWilkinson, Richard H.2000Thames and Hudson, LtdISBN 0-500-05100-3
        Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul1995Harry N. Abrams, Inc., PublishersISBN 0-8109-3225-3
        Egypt in Late AntiquityBagnall, Roger S.1993Princeton University PressISBN 0-691-1096-x
        History of Ancient Egypt, AGrimal, Nicolas1988BlackwellNone Stated
        Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian2000Oxford University PressISBN 0-19-815034-2
        Sacred Sites of Ancient EgyptOakes, Lorna2001Lorenz BooksISBN (non stated)
        FROM: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dendera.htm

      Post last edited Nov 20th 2013


      Edit Signature​
      The Discovery of Susan Lynne Schwenger & Tony Bermanseder -The alignment of all the ancient & tribal calendars showing: The End of The Macha (9,360,000 days) & Pacha (360 days) Grand Cycle which ends December 16th, 2013 at sunset - and, The Start of The Pacha iNTi (9,360,000 Days) Grand Cycle of December 17th, 2013 at sunrise. Susan Lynne Schwenger was the first person to identify The Grand Cycle change in 1984, as The Last Full Moon in 2013- 17 DEC 2013, in alignment with The Six (6) Season Calendar aka The Ancient Year aka The Calendar Round aka The Thirteen(13) Moon Calendar aka The Six (6) Event Calendar aka The Eight (8) Event Calendar. The Aztec, Mayan, Maori, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis & Native American Tribes also have cycles of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13, 18, 20, 52, 60, 180, 260, 360, 360+5, 360+1+5, 23,400, 26,000, 26,001, 52,000, 52,002, 144,000, 180,000, 1,872,000 & 9,360,000 Days, along with yearly Cycles. She was also the first to align The Celtic Calendar, The Metonic Calendar, The Ancient Egyptian Calendar, The Chinese 60-year Calendar Cycle, and, an assortment of other chinese calendars etc., The Bermanseder Bible Codes & The Bermanseder Pyramid Formula (which closes the 12 pointed star) can also be aligned to these calendars:
      http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/?page=post&id=0265D780-C9C1-46C1-80A1-A15795198653&pageindex=83
      THE MAIN CODE of THE DRESDEN CODEX THROUGH THE MAYAN SUPER NUMBER 1366560 has been cracked by Tony Bermanseder & Susan Lynne Schwenger
      -- which mathematically proves we live in a 12 level universe
      http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/...01A0&fid=F3D0C39E-7270-4160-80DE-61A397C1A988
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      SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGE - Posted Nov 20th 2013

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      SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGEakaTHEeXchanger - Posted 51 Minutes Ago

      Dendera and the Temple of Hathor
      by Mark Andrews
      >> Temple Index
      [​IMG]​
      Dotted about the landscape of modern Egypt are many ancient temples from the Mediterranean coast all the way to the southern border with the Sudan, most located in the Nile Valley but scattered elsewhere as well. Some of these temples are famous and stand out from the others, such the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, Philae, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu and others. Among these most important temples may also be counted Dendera, which provides examples of a particularly rich variety of later temple features.
      Dendera is located about 60 kilometers north of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile River opposite the provincial modern town of Qena.
      Ancient Egyptian Iunet or Tantere, known to the Greeks as Tentyris, was the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt and a town of some importance. Today, we know it as Dendera,
      [​IMG]​
      though the population of the town has, since antiquity, moved to Qena across theNile on the east bank. Now, the ancient temple lies isolated on the desert edge.
      Along with the temple itself, there is also a necropolis that includes tombs of the Early Dynastic Period, but the most important phase that has been identified was the end of the Old Kingdom and the 1stIntermediate Period. The provinces were virtually autonomous at that time and, although Dendera was not a leading political force in Upper Egypt, its notables built a number of mastabas of some size, though only one has any decoration apart from stelae and false doors. On the west end of the site are brick-vaulted catacombs of Late Periodanimal burials, primarily birds and dogs, while cow burials have been found at various points in the necropolis. Of course, this was a significant site for the Hathor cult, whose forms included a cow.
      Suggested Layout of the Temple Proper​
      [​IMG]1. Large Hypostyle Hall
      2. Second, Small Hypostyle Hall
      3. Laboratory
      4. Storage Magazine
      5. Offering Entry
      6. Treasury
      7. Exit to Well
      8. Access to Stairwell
      9. Offering Hall
      10. Hall of the Ennead
      11. Great Seat (central Shrine)/Main Sanctuary
      12. Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
      13. Shrine of Isis
      14. Shrine of Sokar
      15. Shrine of Harsomtus
      16. Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
      17. Shrine of Gods of Lower Egypt
      18. Shrine of Heathor
      19. Shrine of the Throne of Re
      20: Shrine of Re
      21. Shrine of Menat Collar
      22. Shrine of Ihy
      23. The Pure Place
      24. Court of the First Feast
      25. Passage
      26. Staircase to Roof
      [​IMG]​
      The main temple complex is oriented, as usual, toward the Nile, which here flows east-west, so that the temple faces north. However, to the ancient Egyptians, this was symbolically east, since the temple faces the Nile.
      The main temple area is fronted by several Roman Period kiosks. After those, the monumental gateway of Domitian and Trajan is set in a massive mud-brick enclosure wall that surrounded the complex, and leads to an open area. Although the site lacks a colonnade and the two pylons which ought to precede the inner temple, an unfinished inner enclosure wall of stone surrounds a courtyard with side entrances which open before the large hypostyle hall added in the 1st century AD by the emperor Tiberius.
      [​IMG]​
      However, prior to the temple proper is the Roman Period birth house of Dendera on the west, perhaps built by Nero, though more probably by Trajan. Although the dedication inscriptions refer to Trajan, Nero is depicted in the main hypostyle hall of the of the Hathor temple, offering the model of a birth house. This is the latest preserved temple of its type.
      The new sanctuary was well designed and followed Ptolemaic models. In order to match the level of the Hathor temple, the new building was erected on a high platform. A temporary access staircase led up at the side of the platform.
    • The roofing slabs were not positioned, as usual, beneath the level of the cavetto molding around the buildings top,
    • but would have probably been hidden by a parapet wall.
    • The core building contains a sequence of three rooms.
    • Two corridors that isolate the large sanctuary are notable.
    • These passages are too narrow to be used and must have been added for symbolic and optical effect.
    • The rear wall of the sanctuary is dominated by an enormous false door
    • that is framed by a double cavetto molding on slender columns
    • and topped by an uraeus frieze.
    • A cult niche high up in the wall corresponds to the location of the statue niche in the sanctuary of the main temple.
      [​IMG]​
      Its scenes depict Trajan, Augustus' later successor, making offerings to Hathor,
    • and are among the finest to be found in Egypt. It was the ritual location where Hathor gave birth
    • to the young Ihy or Harsomtus, two alternative youthful deities who stand for the youthful phase
    • of creator gods in general. There are also, of course, figures of the god Bes, a patron of childbirth, carved on the abaci above the column capitals. The reliefs on the exterior walls are superbly preserved, and portray the divine birth and childhood of the infant Horus, whose rites legitimize the divine descent of the king.
      The birth house was surrounded by an ambulatory. The composite capitals of the columns carry high pillars with Bes figures. The frontal ambulatory extended by the addition of three columns into a kind of kiosk, with the front corners formed by L-shaped pillars. The kiosk had a
      [​IMG]​
      timbered roof that somehow must have connected to the stone structure of the birth house. This merging of the ambulatory with a kiosk is a novelty. At older birth houses, a court was attached as a separate structure.
      The Roman Birth House (mammisi) was built when the earlier structure, begun by Nectanebo I and decorated in the Ptolemaic Period, was cut through by the foundation of the unfinished first court of the main temple of Hathor. Only a false door at the eastern exterior wall of the main temple of Hathor reminds one of the original sanctuary. Originally, this birth house measured about 17 by 20 meters and consisted of a triple shrine opening to a transverse hall. It was built mainly of brick but received an interior stone casing. Within this older structure, the walls of the wide hall depict the Ptolemaic kings offering to Hathor. A scene on the north wall shows the creator god Khnum fashioning the child, Ihy, with Hekat the goddess of childbirth seen in her image as a frog.
      Both birth houses are now accessible. They differ considerably in plan and decoration.
      Between the new and old birth houses are the remains of a Christian basilica that can be dated to the 5th century AD. It is an excellent example representative of early Coptic church architecture.
      [​IMG]
      High Relief of Bes in the forecourt of the temple at Dendera      ​
      South of the earlier birth house is a mud-brick "sanatorium.. This sanatorium is the only one of its type known in association with an ancient Egyptian temple. Here, visitors could bathe in the sacred waters or spend the night in order to have a healing dream of the goddess. It had benches around its sides where the sick rested while waiting for cures affected by the priests. An inscription on a statue base found in this location
      [​IMG]​
      suggests that water was poured over magical texts on the statues, causing it to become holy and to cure all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Basins used to collect the holy water can still be seen at the western end.
      To the west of the sanatorium, a small chapel of Nebhepetre' Mentuhotep dating to the 11th Dynasty was recovered from the site and has been re-erected in the Cairo Museum. The building, which has secondary inscriptions of Merneptah, was as much for the cult of the king as for the goddess, and was probably ancillary to the lost main temple of its time.
      The main temple at Dendera is the grandest and most elaborately decorated of its period. It is also one of the most important temple sites of Egypt, providing examples of a rich variety of later temple features. It is also one of the best preserved temples of this period, surviving despite the destruction of the temples of Hathor's consort Horus and their child Ihy or Harsomtus which originally stood close by.
      The massive foundations probably contain many blocks from the earlier structure it replaced. Early texts refer to a temple at Dendera which was rebuilt during the Old Kingdom, and several New Kingdom monarchs, including Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and III are known to have embellished the structure. However, while fragments of earlier periods have been found on the site, there have been no earlier buildings unearthed. Pepi I and Tuthmosis III in particular were recalled in the new temple's inscriptions.
      [​IMG]​
      The temple of Hathor was constructed over a period, we believe, of thirty-four years, between 54 and 20 BC. When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, the temple was, after four years of building activity, still in its early stages, although it did contain some underground crypts. It seems that the remainder of the temple was build during the twenty-one year reign of his successor, Queen Cleopatra VII. At the time of her death in 30 BC, the decoration work had just begun (on the outer rear wall).
      The temple plan is classical Egyptian, completely enclosed by a 35 by 59 meter wall standing 12.5 meters high. However, unlike those of earliertemples, the facade of the hypostyle hall that fronts the main temple is constructed as a low screen with inter-columnar walls exposing the hall's ceiling and the Hathor style sistrum capitals of its 24 columns. According to a dedication inscription on the cornice thickness above the entrance, this part of the temple was built under Tiberius between 34 and 35 AD. The structure measures 26.03 by 43 meters and is 17.2 meters high. It has an 8 meter long architrave that spans the central intercolumniation. Above, a towering cavetto, built from one course, and the massive volume of the corner tori cast heavy shadows and articulate the edges of the facade.
      [​IMG]
      Hathor capitals in the first Hypostyle Hall​
      A sistrum is an ancient Egyptian musical instrument closely associated with Hathor. Each column bears a four-sided capital, which occupies about one third of the column height, carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess, though every one of the faces was vandalized in antiquity (probably during the early Christian Period. The shafts are profusely decorated with scenes, and their straight bases stand on flat plinths. The paint, which was still preserved in the 19th century, was dominated by the blue of Hathor's wig.
      [​IMG]​
      Nevertheless, the ceiling of this hall retains much of its original color. It is decorated as a complex and carefully aligned symbolic chart of the heavens, including signs of the zodiac (introduced by the Romans) and images of the sky goddess Nut who swallowed the sun disc each evening in order to give birth to it once again at dawn. The outer hypostyle hall was decorated by emperors ranging from Augustus to Nero. Note that at the center of the south outside wall was a relief of a sistrum that was gilded, both to show its importance and to evoke Hathor, the "gold of the gods".
      Since tradition rule that the processional approach should gradually descend from the inside to the outside, the builders had to lower the floor of the central nave of the hypostyle hall to obtain the required progression of floor levels.
      A doorway aligned to the central axis of the temple leads from the large hypostyle hall into an inner hall with six Hathor columns that is known as the hall of appearances. It was here that the statue of the goddess "appeared" from her sanctuary for religious ceremonies and processions. The front wall of this hall was actually the facade of the original temple. Lighting within the hall is provided through small, square apertures. The chamber has columns in two rows of three. They also have Hathor heads. The bases and the lower parts of the drums are made of granite, while the upper parts are of sandstone. Scenes on the walls of this hall depict the king participating in the foundation ceremonies for the construction of the temple, and on either side doors open into three chambers which were used as preparation areas for various aspects of the daily ritual. For example, one room was probably used as a laboratory for preparation of ointments. An opening through the outer eastern wall allowed offering goods to be brought into this area, and a parallel passage from one of the western chambers led to a well.
      [​IMG]​
      The rear part of the temple was built first, probably in the early 1st century BC. The earliest king named is Ptolemy XII Auletes, but mostly the cartouches are blank, probably because of dynastic struggles in the mid 1st century. This inner core included an offering hall, in which sacrifices were dedicated, and a "hall of the ennead" (also known as the "hall of the cycle of the gods), where statues of other deities assembled with Hathor before a procession began.
      These are followed by a 5.7 by 11.22 meter barque shrine which once enclosed the four barques of Hathor, Horus of Edfu, Harsomtus andIsis, which apparently were not enclosed by wooden shrines.
      [​IMG]​
      After this small chamber there is the sanctuary of the goddess herself. It is embellished by a splendid, temple-like facade topped by a cavetto with an uraeus frieze. Inside the sanctuary was an expensively decorated wooden naos that held the gilded, two meter high seated cult image of Hathor. The naos stood in a niche of the rear wall, and it is not known how the niche, three meters above the pavement, could be reached. To either side of the this inner sanctuary, the king is depicted offering a copper mirror, one of Hathor's sacred emblems, to the goddess.
      About the central sanctuary on its sides and rear are located eleven chapels dedicated to the other deities who were associated with Hathor's chief attributes, the sacred sistrum and the menat necklace.
      Within the temple the most distinctive parts are the fourteen crypts, of which eleven were decorated. They far surpass those of other temples. The inclusion of secretly accessed crypts in temples can be traced back to the 18th Dynasty. By the Late Period crypts were included in the architectural design of most temples.
      These are suites of rooms on three (and sometimes even four) stories, set in the thickness of the outside wall, and beneath the floors of the chambers in the rear part of the temple. The elongated, narrow chambers and passages are arranged one above the other, with the lowermost laid deep within the temple foundations. Access was gained through trapdoors in the pavement and behind hidden sliding wall blocks. Unlike other crypts, those at Dendera are decorated in relief. The decorations in these chambers conforms to the temple's axis. The most important reliefs, among which sistra are prominent, were on the axis itself. Apparently, these rooms were decorated before the roof blocks were set.
      [​IMG][​IMG]
      Depiction within the crypts      ​
      François Daumas described the easternmost of the five crypts along the southern end, telling us that:
      "In the last room, one sees, carefully carved on the Southern wall, a falcon with detailed feathers, preceded by a snake emerging from a lotus blossom within a boat. Whereas the whole of the temple is constructed of sandstone, to facilitate a relief of fine quality there was placed in the wall, at the level of the figures, a block of limestone suitable for very detailed work, and of this the artist took full and perfect advantage. These reliefs are cosmological representations. The snake that comes out of the lotus is equated with the shining deity Harsamtawy (Ihy) as he appears for the first time out of the primordial sea. He is again represented near the bottom of the crypt in the form of two snakes also coming forth, but this time wrapped in lotuses like protective envelopes. Sometimes those that were on the Mesktet-barque collaborated with Horus; other times the Mandjet-barque with its crew helped to reveal the god: Djed raises his body, a supreme manner of worship, attendant of the god's prestigious ka. The statuettes appear to have been used for the New Year celebration and the festival of Harsamtawy. It is likely that on these solemn occasions these objects were transported to the vault [i.e. the room above the crypt]."
      [​IMG]​
      Their main use of these crypts was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple's protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the ba of Hathor.
      Also within the wall thickness are the staircases, which lead up to and return from the roof which, because of the unequal ceiling heights of the rooms below, was built into terraces. The huge roofing slabs must at one time have been covered with thinner paving stones. Their surface was slightly inclined and had channels to guide rainwater from the roof.
      [​IMG]​
      On the roof in the southwest corner is a kiosk, in which the ritual of the goddess's union with the sun disk was performed. It has four Hathor columns on each side. Sockets in its architraves suggest a barrel-shaped timber roof with a double hull and segmented pediment, though for its purpose it must have had roof windows to let in the sun's rays. In the floor of the chapel one may also note the light well for the Horus chapel below, on the main floor.
      The ba of Hathor would have been taken from its hiding place to the roof of the temple for the significant New year's festival celebrated where it would have spent the night prior to beholding the rising sun in a symbolic union with the solar disc.
      François Daumas tells us that:
      "But most prestigious of the statues was that of the ba of Hathor. According to the texts written on the walls, we know that the kiosk consisted of a gold base surmounted by a gold roof supported by four gold posts, covered on all four sides by linen curtains hung from copper rods. Inside was placed the gold statuette representing a bird with a human head capped with a horned disc. This was Hathor, Lady of Dendara, residing in her house... It was certainly this statuette that was carried in the kiosk on the evening of the New Year."
      [​IMG]
      Chapel of the New Year      ​
      The staircase to the west of the offering hall, which was used by the priests to ascend to the roof, has ascending figures of the king and various priests with the shrine of the goddess carved on its right hand wall. These representations depict various aspects of the New Year's festival. The stairway to the east has corresponding scenes of descending figures, and was used for the procession's return.
      There is also a pair of parallel shrines on the roof's eastern and western sides dedicated to Osiris. They are concealed in a kind of mezzanine floor. Both of these sanctuaries have open courts, surrounded by a cavetto. From the rear wall of the court, three doors lead into two succeeding chambers.
      In the inner of the two rooms, Isis and Nephthys are shown mourning the death of Osiris, who lies on his funerary bier waiting to be resurrected by magical rituals. Isis is also depicted, magically impregnated with the seed of her son Horus as the myth unfolds.
      [​IMG]​
      A corresponding suite on the eastern side of the roof depicts the lunar festival of Khoiakh in which an 'Osiris bed' was filled with earth and grain seed as part of an important fertility rite. The walls of the first room show scenes of the burial goods of Osiris, including his canopic jarsand on the ceiling Nut is shown with other astronomical figures. On the other half of the ceiling is a plaster copy of the famous 'DenderaZodiac', representing the cospic aspect of the Osiris mysteries. The original is now in the Louvre in Paris. The inner room depicts scenes from the Osiris myth, similar to that of the western suite as well as reliefs of cosmic importance.
      Dendera was considered one of Osiris' many tombs, and the shrines, which have no link with Hathor, were used to celebrate his death and resurrection. His death may have been re-enacted at the sacred lake to the west of the temple.
      The roof of the hypostyle hall was reached by another flight of steps with various gods carved along its wall, and this highest area of the temple was used in antiquity by pious pilgrims who awaited signs
      [​IMG]​
      and miracles from the goddess. There remain gaming boards carved into the stone blocks that helped these faithful pass the time during their vigils.
      On the rear outside wall of the temple directly behind the sanctuary, beneath the two lion-headed waterspouts (there are also three more on each of its side walls) which drained rainwater from the roof are scenes showing the massive figure of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, who became the great queen's co-regent as Ptolemy XV. At the center of the wall is the large False Door with a gigantic emblem of Hathor, diminished over the centuries by pilgrims who scraped at it to obtain a little of the sacred stone at the point where they could come closest to Hathor herself. This is
      [​IMG]​
      the location of the "hearing ear" shrine, which allowed the goddess to "hear" the prayers of common folk not otherwise allowed into the main temple.
      Immediately south of the Hathor temple is the temple of Isis, known as the Iseum, which used foundation blocks from a destroyed Ptolemaic building and was decorated under Augustus. The east gateway, also Roman in date, leads to this temple, which is almost unique in having a dual orientation with the outer rooms or main part of the structure and hypostyle hall facing east and the inner ones north toward the temple of Hathor. The central high relief in the sanctuary, which showed Isis giving birth, has been mutilated. Within the rear wall of the sanctuary a statue of Osiris (now destroyed) was supported by the arms of Isis and Nephthys.
      [​IMG]
      Plan of the Isis Birth House at Dendera      ​
      Further to the south, at the temple's southwest corner, lies the compound's sacred lake ​
    • which provided water for the priests' ablutions.​
    • With flights of stairs descending from each corner, this stone-lined ceremonial basin is the best
      [​IMG]preserved of its type in any Egyptian temple.       ​
    • Today, it is empty of water and tall trees grow within its walls. ​
    • Next to the lake is a well with rock-cut steps leading down to give access to water for daily use in the temple.​
      East of the temple was a part of the town, which the temple texts mention as having a temple of Horus of Edfu in its midst.
    • This may be the same as some remains of the Roman Period about 500 meters from the main enclosure.
    • The triads of deities worshiped at Edfu and at Dendera were similar, consisting of Horus, Hathor (or Isis), and Ihy or Harsomtus. Hathor of Dendera and Horus of Edfu met at a sacred "marriage" ceremony, when she made a progress to the south.
      [​IMG]
      Roman Gate East of the Hathor Complex      ​
      References:
      TitleAuthorDatePublisherReference Number
      Art of Ancient Egypt, TheRobins, Gay1997Harvard University PressISBN 0-674-00376-4
      Atlas of Ancient EgyptBaines, John; Malek, Jaromir1980Les Livres De FranceNone Stated
      Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, TheWilkinson, Richard H.2000Thames and Hudson, LtdISBN 0-500-05100-3
      Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul1995Harry N. Abrams, Inc., PublishersISBN 0-8109-3225-3
      Egypt in Late AntiquityBagnall, Roger S.1993Princeton University PressISBN 0-691-1096-x
      History of Ancient Egypt, AGrimal, Nicolas1988BlackwellNone Stated
      Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, TheShaw, Ian2000Oxford University PressISBN 0-19-815034-2
      Sacred Sites of Ancient EgyptOakes, Lorna2001Lorenz BooksISBN (non stated)
      FROM: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dendera.htm

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    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
    #8
  9. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

    Messages:
    55,226

    • Dendera zodiac

      180px-Louvre_122006_019.
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      The Dendera zodiac as displayed at the Louvre
      The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in theHathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the scales). This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. This led Jean-François Champollion to date the relief correctly to the Greco-Roman period, but most of his contemporaries believed it to be of the New Kingdom. The now-accepted date for the relief is 50 BC, since it shows the stars and planets in the positions they would have been seen at that date. The relief has been conjectured to be the basis on which later astronomy systems were based.[1] It is now on display at the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
      Description

      The zodiac is a planisphere or map of the stars on a plane projection, showing the 12 constellations of the zodiacal band forming 36 decans of ten days each, and the planets. These decans are groups of first-magnitude stars. These were used in the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was based on lunar cycles of around 30 days and on the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (Sirius).
      Its representation of the zodiac in circular form is unique in ancient Egyptian art.[citation needed] More typical are the rectangular zodiacs which decorate the same temple's pronaos.
      The celestial arch is represented by a disc held up by four pillars of the sky in the form of women, between which are inserted falcon-headed spirits. On the first ring, 36 spirits symbolize the 360 days of the Egyptian year.
      On an inner circle, one finds constellations, showing the signs of the zodiac. Some of these are represented in the same forms as their familiar names (e.g. the Ram, Taurus,Scorpio, and Capricorn, albeit most in odd orientations in comparison to the conventions of ancient Greece and later Arabic-Western developments), whilst others are shown in a more Egyptian form: Aquarius is represented as the flood god Hapy, holding two vases which gush water[citation needed].
      History

      180px-Dendera.
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      Denderah Zodiac (19th-century engraving)
      During the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt, Vivant Denon drew the circular zodiac, the more widely known one, and the rectangular zodiacs. In 1802, after the Napoleonic expedition, Denon published engravings of the temple ceiling in his Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte.[2] These elicited a controversy as to the age of the zodiac representation, ranging from tens of thousands to a thousand years to a few hundred, and whether the zodiac was a planisphere or an astrological chart.[3] Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, a member of the expedition, decided to remove the relief to France and so, in 1820, the antiquities dealer Sébastien-Louis Saulnier commissioned Jean Baptiste Leloraine, a master mason, to remove the circular zodiac with saws, jacks, and scissors constructed for the job. The zodiac ceiling was moved in 1821 toRestoration Paris and, by 1822, was installed by Louis XVIII in the Royal Library. In 1964, the zodiac moved from the Bibliothèque Nationale to the Louvre.
      The controversy around the zodiac, called the "Dendera Affair", involved people of the likes of Joseph Fourier (who estimated that the age was 2500 BC[4]), Thomas Young,Jean-François Champollion, and Jean-Baptiste Biot.[5] Johann Karl Burckhardt and Jean-Baptiste Coraboeuf held, after analysis of the zodiac, that the ancient Egyptians understood the precession of the equinoxes. Champollion, among others, believed that it was a religious zodiac. Champollion deciphered the names of Tiberius, Claudius,Nero and Domitian on the ceiling of Dendera's temple, and placed the zodiac in the era of Roman rule over Egypt.[6]
      Notes

      1. ^ Zodiac of Dendera, epitome. (Exhib., Leic. square). J. Haddon, 1825.
      2. ^ Abigail Harrison Moore, "Voyage: Dominique-Vivant Denon and the Transference of Images of Egypt", Art History 25.4 (2002:531–549).
      3. ^ Zodiac of Dendera, epitome. (Exhib., Leicester Square). J. Haddon, 1825.
      4. ^ Francis Lister Hawks, The Monuments of Egypt: Or, Egypt a Witness for the Bible. John Murray, 1850. 256 pages. Page 158.
      5. ^ Biot, Récherches sur plusieurs points de 1'Astronomie Egyptienne, appliquées aux monumens astronomiques trouvés en Egypte. Paris, 1823. 8 Volumes.
      6. ^ J. G. Honoré Greppo, Essay on the Hieroglyphic System of M. Champollion, Jun., and on the Advantages which it Offers To Sacred Criticism. Saxton & Miles, 1842. 276 pages.
      Bibliography

      • (French) Éric Aubourg, La date de conception du temple d'Hathor à Dendérah, BIFAO, 1995 ;
      • Sylvie Cauville :
        • (French) Le temple de Dendérah, IFAO, 1995,
        • (French) Le temple d'Isis à Dendéra, BIFAO, 1995,
        • (French) Le zodiaque d'Osiris, Peeters, 1997.
      External links

      Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_zodiac"
      Categories: Antiquities of the Louvre | Sculptures of ancient Egypt | Ancient astronomy | Ancient Egyptian calendar
      Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 | Egypt articles missing geocoordinate data | All articles needing coordinates

      A SECOND ALIGNMENT WITH EASTER ISLAND AND MOHENJO-DARO
      In Global Sacred Alignments, Terry Walsh diagrams several alignments of ancient sites on straight lines around the center of the earth, and mentions several others. He addresses the alignment of the Great Pyramid with Easter Island, Machupicchu and Persepolis, and he diagrams an alignment of Easter Island with Tiahuanaco, Luxor,Mohenjo Daro, Varanasi and Bandiagara, the ancient land of the Dogons. This second alignment also crosses over Dendera, Bodh Gaya and Mandalay.​
      The total circumference of this second alignment is 24,892 miles. The great circle distance from Easter Island to Tiahuanaco is 2,703 miles, 10.8% of the total circumference. The distance from Tiahuanaco to Bandiagara is 4,930 miles, 19.8%. The distance from Bandiagara to Luxor is 2,473 miles, 9.9%. The distance from Luxor to Easter Island’s antipodal point in the Indus Valley near Ganweriwali is 2,363 miles, 9.5%.
      Because Easter Island, Machupicchu, the Great Pyramid, the Indus Valley and Angkor are also aligned at 10% intervals around the earth, there is a high coincidence of paired sites along these two alignments. In addition to the convergence of the two alignments at Easter Island and Mohenjo-Daro, Machupicchu is paired with Tiahuanaco and the Great Pyramid is paired with Luxor. If the pairing of these sites along these two alignments is not a coincidence, two good places to look for other ancient sites would be in the Sahara Desert, near the border between Mali and Mauritania, at 21° N, 7° 40' W, 2,488 miles southwest of the Great Pyramid, and in the shallow water of the South China Sea, just off the coast of Vietnam, at 18° 43' N, 106° 27' E, 2,488 miles southeast of Mohenjo-Daro.
      The axis points of this great circle are 62° 03' N, 124° 40' W and 62° 03' S, 55° 20' E. The great circle crosses the equator at 34° 40' W and 145° 20' E. The upper latitudes are 27° 57' N at 55° 20' E and 27° 57' S at 124° 40' W.      ​


















      Links:LatitudeLongitudeTo Great Circle
      Easter Island27° 06' S109° 20' W0 miles
      Tiahuanaco16° 32' S68° 42' W0 miles
      Dendera26° 10' N32° 39' E5 miles
      Mohenjo-Daro27° 15' N68° 17' E5 miles
      Varanasi25° 17' N82° 56' E10 miles
      Bodh Gaya24° 42' N84° 58' E1 mile
      Mandalay22° 03' N96° 08' E10 miles
      dend1.
      Above: The zodiac that was carved on the ceiling of the temple at Dendera.
      Below: Northern constellations and center of Dendera zodiac.
      dend2.
      Although the original temple at Dendera was built at the beginning of dynastic Egypt, it is believed that the temple was restored and the zodiac was carved almost 3,000 years later. In ancient Egypt, the hippopotamus represented the body of the constellation now known as Draco, and the bull's thigh represented the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). When the Dendera Zodiac is believed to have been carved (around 150 B.C.), the celestial north pole was above the Big Dipper, closer to Polaris than Thuban. The location of the center of the Dendera Zodiac suggests that it was carved much earlier or carved to represent a much earlier time, when the celestial north pole was close to Thuban, around the beginning of dynastic Egypt. It is also believed that the temple at Dendera was originally dedicated to the star god Sirius-Isis. Sirius is also central to the religious beliefs of the ancient Dogon tribe that still inhabits the Bandiagara escarpment in Mali. In 1862 it was discovered by modern science that Sirius is orbited by a white-dwarf companion star, invisible to the naked eye. The ancient religious beliefs of the Dogons, handed down to the present day, as well as ancient Egyptian writings, both suggest a much earlier awareness of this dual nature of the Sirius star system.
      FROM: http://home.hiwaay.net/~jalison/second.html      ​
      ​
      ​

      The Dendera Zodiac. Astrologer John Lash gave a lecture at the Alternative Egypt Questing Conference in October 99, in which he claimed that there were originally 13 signs in the zodiac, the 13th being "The Snake Handler". Instead of splitting the ecliptic into 12 equally sized sections, there were 13 sections of different sizes, depending on the sizes of the constellations. Once this is taken into account, we see that the Sun's vernal equinox will not transit from Pisces to Aquarius, for another 700 to 800 years.
      den2. im7.
      The circular zodiac on the ceiling of the Temple at Denderah, Egypt Some of the zodiac signs are displaced from their usual ............................................................................................................................................ positions along the eccentric circle of the ecliptic, and seem to be arranged on a circle round the pole star .
      .......................................................................................................................................................................John Anthony West
      The circular zodiac on the ceiling of the Temple at Denderah, in Egypt shows the 12 signs, the Snake Handler without the snake, several other constellations, the five visible planets, and the 36 decans. The Egyptologist R.A. Schwaller De Lubicz (in Sacred Science), has shown that the Denderah Zodiac demonstrates that the Egyptians knew about the precession of the equinoxes. The axes marked on the zodiac show the movement of solstices and equinoxes through the constellations between the foundation of Egypt and the time of the building of the Denderah Temple. Sirius appears twice - once on the true North-South axis, above the horns of the "cow of Isis", and also on the axis of the temple, as Horus on a papyrus stem. The light of the star would illumine the inner temple on New Year's Day, at the heliacal rising, when the temple was built. At that era, this would have coincided with the summer solstice in Cancer, which is why Sirius also appears aligned to Cancer on the North-South axis.

      den1. im2.
      Detail showing the axes, and the 90 degree line through Galactic Centre, between Scorpio & Sagitarius & Double rams' heads

      John Lash points out another axis on the Dendera Zodiac, which goes from the four rams' heads, through Pisces, across the pole to the star Spica, being held by Virgo. This, he says, is pointing out the position of the vernal equinox today. The line goes through the Square of Pegasus, which has writing on it - "the Programmes of Destiny" (I had previously associated this square with the "Wormhole of Daath"). At exactly 90 degrees to this axis, another line can be drawn through the tip of the arrow of Sagittarius, which points to Galactic Centre, where the solstice alignment will occur in 2012. John Lash's Dendera theory is summed up in his own words in Colin Wilson's book, Atlantis Blueprint.
      [Editor's Note: Nostradamus used a 13 constellation astrology chart,
      as does Dr. Louis Turi currently.]
      13 Sign Constellation astrology; The 13th missing sign is OPHIUCHUS.
      This form of astrology was practiced by Nostradamus
      Ophiuchus
      The Discovery of Susan Lynne Schwenger & Tony Bermanseder -The alignment of all the ancient & tribal calendars showing: The End of The Macha (9,360,000 days) & Pacha (360 days) Grand Cycle which ends December 16th, 2013 at sunset - and, The Start of The Pacha iNTi (9,360,000 Days) Grand Cycle of December 17th, 2013 at sunrise. Susan Lynne Schwenger was the first person to identify The Grand Cycle change in 1984, as The Last Full Moon in 2013- 17 DEC 2013, in alignment with The Six (6) Season Calendar aka The Ancient Year aka The Calendar Round aka The Thirteen(13) Moon Calendar aka The Six (6) Event Calendar aka The Eight (8) Event Calendar. The Aztec, Mayan, Maori, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis & Native American Tribes also have cycles of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13, 18, 20, 52, 60, 180, 260, 360, 360+5, 360+1+5, 23,400, 26,000, 26,001, 52,000, 52,002, 144,000, 180,000, 1,872,000 & 9,360,000 Days, along with yearly Cycles. She was also the first to align The Celtic Calendar, The Metonic Calendar, The Ancient Egyptian Calendar, The Chinese 60-year Calendar Cycle, and, an assortment of other chinese calendars etc., The Bermanseder Bible Codes & The Bermanseder Pyramid Formula (which closes the 12 pointed star) can also be aligned to these calendars:
      http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/?page=post&id=0265D780-C9C1-46C1-80A1-A15795198653&pageindex=83
      THE MAIN CODE of THE DRESDEN CODEX THROUGH THE MAYAN SUPER NUMBER 1366560 has been cracked by Tony Bermanseder & Susan Lynne Schwenger
      -- which mathematically proves we live in a 12 level universe http://www.thuban.spruz.com/forums/...01A0&fid=F3D0C39E-7270-4160-80DE-61A397C1A988
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      SUSANakaTHE13THBRIDGE - Posted Nov 20th 2013

      • 13 Sign Constellation astrology; The 13th missing sign is OPHIUCHUS.
        This form of astrology was practiced by Nostradamus
        Ophiuchus

         
         
         
     
    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
    #9
  10. CULCULCAN

    CULCULCAN The Final Synthesis - isbn 978-0-9939480-0-8 Staff Member

    Messages:
    55,226
    {tbody}{tr}{td}Another source says:
    Akhenaten received his teachings in the Brotherhood of the Seven Rays, in a secret school that is known to be in the Andes Mountains. (which is why there are so many archaeological artifacts here in the Americas, that show a direct connection to Egypt)

    There are those that hold to the belief that this school was the ancient university of Machu Picchu, others argue that it was Tiahuanaco, the famed city of the sun. No records oral or otherwise have survived which designate which location it may have actually been. Perhaps those records are still to be revealed.

    These records were to remain in cloistered solitude, until there was a sign was to seen in the heavens, a sign that would be unmistakable, and born of Source itself, telling those who remained true to the original covenants and teachings that the brotherhood would begin the process of awakening.
    http://www.spiritweb.us/egypt/egypt.html{/td}
    {/tr}{/tbody}{/td}{/tr}{/tbody}
    THE RELIGION OF EGYPT
    Akhenaton and Ancient Egyptian Religion

    Rise of the Cult of Aten in New Kingdom Egypt

    © Michael Streich
    At the time Akhenaton became Egypt’s pharaoh during the XVIII Dynasty circa 1350 B.C., Thebes was the capital and its patron god, Amun, the most powerful of the Egyptian gods. Amun had delivered Egypt at the start of the New Kingdom, driving foreign occupiers out of the land. The priests that served Amun were powerful and held as much as 30% of the land. Known first as Amonhotep IV, the pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaton during the fifth year of his reign, banishing the old gods and instituting what some scholars have called a “religious revolution.”
    Akhenaton and the Cult of Aten

    Rejecting the traditional Egyptian gods, Akhenaton took the extraordinary step of moving the capital to a new city, built from scratch on the east bank of the Nile at Amarna. It was called Akhenaton or the “horizon of the Aten,” and would stand for thirty years. Moving his court to the new city, Akhenaton vowed never to leave, a decision that would have negative implications.
    Aten was the sun disk, the Re of old Egypt, personified in the pharaoh who was both the son and intermediary. According to Bob Brier, the idea of the sun disk first appeared “a thousand years earlier during the Old Kingdom." Similarly, Nicolas Grimal argues that Akhenaton's beliefs were not revolutionary or new, but could be traced back to old theological teachings coming out of Heliopolis in the Old Kingdom period.
    Writing much of the liturgy himself, Akhenaton's most well known poem of adoration was his Great Hymn to the Aten which has often been compared to the Old Testament Psalm 104. The notion that Aten somehow promoted monotheism is debated. Grimal points out that “Atenism” was a reflection of “the common ground of Semitic civilizations.”
    Effects of Aten in Ancient Egypt
    Because the cult of Aten was confined to Amarna, the everyday Egyptian remained largely unaffected. Additionally, many of the court and bureaucratic functionaries never fully accepted the cult, rejecting Atenism upon the death of Akhenaton. According to Sigrid Hodel-Hoenes, Akhenaton pursued the “persecution of the god Amun,” yet this did not take the form of persecution in the modern sense. While the pharaoh withheld temple donations, a significant loss of revenue, Amun was still revered by most Egyptians.
    Part of the reason common Egyptians might have rejected the new theology was tied to what Bob Brier calls the “most fundamental change” tied to the new beliefs. Traditional Egyptian deities were “visual gods” while Atenism reflected an “abstract concept.”
    Other scholars have noted marked deterioration of the Egyptian imperial frontiers, particularly in borders shared with the Hittites, because Akhenaton was too preoccupied with Atenism. Aloof from his people, Akhenaton never fulfilled the traditional roles associated with the Pharonic title. Renewed conflict broke out shortly after Akhenaton's death and would continue for many years.
    Return of the Traditional Deities

    Full recovery of the traditional gods came when the nine-year old Tutankhamen became pharaoh in 1334 B.C. The cult of Aten was discontinued and Akhenaton's new capital at Amarna razed to the ground, doomed to oblivion until discovered in the 19th century.
    Sources:

    Bob Brier, The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1998). See pp. 48ff.
    Sigrid Hodel-Hoenes, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt: Scenes from Private Tombs in New Kingdom Thebes (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000), translated by David Warburton.
    Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1988), see chapter 10.
    Julia Samson, Nefertiti and Cleopatra: Queen-Monarchs of Ancient Egypt (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1985).
    Read more: http://egyptian-history.suite101.co...n_and_ancient_egyptian_religion#ixzz0RwQXqMRh




    Atenism

    From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

    Atenism (or the Amarna heresy) is the monotheistic religion associated above all with the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under the name he later adopted, Akhenaten. In the 14th century BC it was Egypt's state religion for around 20 years, before a return to the traditional gods so comprehensive that the heretic Pharaohs associated with Atenism were erased from Egyptian records.
    250px-Aten.JPG
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    Aten
    Atenist revolution

    325px-Aten_disk.
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    Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten
    The Aten, the god of Atenism, first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in The Story of Sinuhe. However, he was considered a relatively obscure sun god and without the Atenist period would barely figure in Egyptian history. Although there are indications that the Aten was becoming more important in the eighteenth dynasty period - notably Amenhotep III's naming of his royal barge as Spirit of the Aten - it was Amenhotep IV who introduced the Atenist revolution, in a series of steps culminating in the official instalment of the Aten as the sole god.
    Amenhotep IV initially introduced Atenism in Year 4 of his reign, raising the Aten to the status of supreme god, but initially permitting the continued worship of the traditional gods. To emphasise the change, Aten's name was written in the cartouche form normally reserved for Pharaohs, an innovation of Atenism. This religious reformation appears to coincide with the proclamation of a Sed-festival, a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship. Traditionally held in the thirtieth year of the Pharaoh's reign, this is likely to have been a festival in honour of Amenhotep III, who many Egyptologists think had a co-regency with his son Amenhotep IV of two to twelve years.
    Year 5 is believed to mark the beginning of Amenhotep IV's construction of a new capital, Akhetaten (Horizon of the Aten), at the site known today as Amarna. Evidence of this appears on three of the boundary stelae used to mark the boundaries of this new capital. At this time, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten (Agreeable to Aten) as evidence of his new worship. The date given for the event has been estimated to fall around January 2 of that year. In Year 7 of his reign the capital was moved from Thebes to Akhetaten (near modern Amarna) in the western desert, though construction of the city seems to have continued for two more years. In shifting his court from the traditional ceremonial centres on the east bank of the Nile, Akhenaten was signalling a dramatic transformation in the locus of religious and political power.
    The move separated the Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and from the traditional centres of worship, but his decree had deeper religious significance too -- the western shore of the Nile was the resting place of the Pharaohs, traditionally associated with death and the afterlife, so this was undoubtedly a powerfully symbolic act. Taken in conjunction with his name change, it is possible that the move to Amarna was also meant as a signal of Akhenaten's symbolic death and rebirth. It may also have coincided with the death of his co-regent and father, Amenhotep III. In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at Karnak and one at Thebes, close to the old temple of Amun.
    In Year 9 Akhenaten strengthened the Atenist regime, declaring the Aten not merely the supreme god but actually the only god, a universal deity, and forbidding worship of all others, including the veneration of idols, even privately in people's homes - an arena the Egyptian state had previously not touched in religious terms. Atenism, like Judaism, was then based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in one God. The prayer par excellence in terms of defining God is the Great Hymn to the Aten, "O Sole God beside whom there is none" (compare this to the Judaic Shema Yisrael, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one").
    Akhenaten staged the ritual regicide of the old supreme god Amun, and ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt, and of all the old gods. The word for `gods' (plural) was proscribed, and inscriptions have been found in which even the hieroglyph of the word for "mother" has been excised and re-written in alphabetic signs, because it had the same sound in ancient Egyptian as the sound of name of the Theban goddess Mut. Aten's name is also written differently after Year 9, to emphasise the radicalism of the new regime. No longer is the Aten written using the symbol of a rayed solar disc, but instead it is spelt phonetically.
    Contrast with traditional Egyptian religion

    The impact of Akhenaten's religious reform, albeit introduced in steps, is hard to overstate; it is equivalent perhaps to a new Pope declaring an obscure African saint the supreme God of Catholicism, building a new Vatican City somewhere in Canada, and abolishing all bishops as well as banning the symbol of the Cross, defacing all churches to remove all reference to Jesus, and banning any personal veneration of Jesus. It is a measure both of Pharaoh's great power, and of the extraordinary circumstances of the time that an equally shocking and dramatic transformation was achieved even temporarily, for about twenty years.
    The context appears to have been an Egypt hit by catastrophe, seeming abandoned by the old gods: a series of pandemics is known to have occurred throughout the Near East of this period, and some speculate that it could coincide with the eruption of the volcano of Thera, which would have covered much of Egypt in a layer of destructive ash, killing crops and livestock. Certainly, Amenhotep III's construction of over 700 statues to the god of destruction, Set, suggests Atenism as being more than merely the personal whim of Akhenaten, but at least in part a desperate measure on the part of a Pharaoh responsible for the well-being of his kingdom, above all by ensuring a good relationship with the gods.
    In this context, Akhenaten carried out a radical program of religious reform which, for a period of about twenty years, largely supplanted the age-old beliefs and practices of the Egyptian state religion, and deposed its religious hierarchy, headed by the powerful priesthood of Amun at Thebes. For fifteen centuries the Egyptians had worshipped and sacrificed to an extended family of gods and goddesses, each of which had its own elaborate system of priests, temples, shrines and rituals. A key feature of these cults was the veneration of images and statues of the gods, which were worshipped in the dark confines of the temples.
    The pinnacle of this religious hierarchy was the Pharaoh, who was both king and living god, and the administration of the Egyptian kingdom was thus inextricably bound up with, and largely controlled by, the power and influence of the priests and scribes. Like the abolition of the Russian Orthodox Church in early Communist Russia, Akhenaten's reforms cut away both the philosophical and economic bases of priestly power, abolishing the cults of multiple deities, and with them the large and lucrative industry of sacrifices and tributes that the priests controlled.
    Initially, Akhenaten presented Aten to the Egyptian people as a variant of the familiar supreme deity Amun-Ra (itself the result of an earlier rise to prominence of the cult of Amun, resulting in Amun becoming merged with the sun god Ra), in an attempt to put his ideas in a familiar religious context. Aten is the name given to the solar disc, whereas the full title of Akhenaten's god was Ra-Horus, who rejoices in the horizon in his name of the light which is in the sun disc. (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at Akhetaten.)
    However in Year 9 of his reign Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion by declaring Aten not merely the supreme god, but the only god, and that he, Akhenaten, was the only intermediary between the Aten and his people. He even staged the ritual regicide of Amun, and ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt. In contrast to the old gods, Aten appears primarily to have been seen as a loving and protective god, whose primary goal was not to punish and demand allegiance and sacrifice but support his people through his presence. Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten. New temples were constructed, in which the Aten was worshipped in the open sunlight, rather than in dark temple enclosures, as the old gods had been.
    Although idols were banned - even in people's homes - these were typically replaced by functionally equivalent representations of Akhenaten and his family venerating the Aten, and receiving the ankh (breath of life) from him. The radicalisation of Year 9 (including spelling Aten phonetically instead of using the rayed solar disc) may be due to a determination on the part of Akhenaten to enforce a probable misconception among the common people that Aten was really a type of sun god like Ra. Instead, the idea was reinforced that such representations were representations above all of concepts - of Aten's universal presence - not of physical beings or things.
    The early stage of Atenism appears a kind of henotheism familiar in Egyptian religion, but the later form suggests a proto-monotheism. The idea of Akhenaten as the pioneer of monotheistic religion was promoted by Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) in his book Moses and Monotheism. A recent suggestion resulting from interpreting particular items of knowledge concerning biblical and Egyptian history (by Ahmed Osman) proposes that Moses and Akhenaten are the same person.
    ]
    Amarna art

    Styles of art that flourished during this short period are markedly different from other Egyptian art, bearing a variety of affectations, from elongated heads to protruding stomachs, exaggerated ugliness and the beauty of Nefertiti. Significantly, and for the only time in the history of Egyptian royal art, Akhenaten's family was depicted in a decidedly naturalistic manner, and they are clearly shown displaying affection for each other.
    Artistic representations of Akhenaten usually give him a strikingly feminine appearance, with slender limbs, a protruding belly and wide hips. Other leading figures of the Amarna period, both royal and otherwise, are also shown with some of these features, suggesting a possible religious connotation, especially as some sources suggest that private representations of Akhenaten, as opposed to official art, show him as quite normal. However, according to some controversial theories, the strikingly unusual representations may have been due to non-religious factors - Akhenaten may actually been a woman masquerading as a man, which had been known to happen in Egyptian politics once or twice, or he may have been a hermaphrodite or had some other intersex condition. It is also suggested by Bob Brier, in his book "The Murder of Tutankhamen", that the family suffered from Marfan's syndrome, which is known to cause elongated features, and that this may explain Akhenaten's appearance.
    Decline of Atenism

    Crucial evidence about the latter stages of Akhenaten's reign was furnished by discovery of the so-called Amarna Letters. Believed to have been thrown away by scribes after being transferred to papyrus, the letters comprise a priceless cache of incoming clay message tablets sent from imperial outposts and foreign allies. The letters suggest that Akhenaten was obsessed with his new religion, and that his neglect of matters of state was causing disorder across the massive Egyptian empire. The governors and kings of subject domains wrote to beg for gold, and also complained of being snubbed and cheated. Also discovered were reports that a major plague pandemic was spreading across the ancient Near East. This pandemic appears to have claimed the life of Akhenaten's main wife (Nefertiti) and several of his six daughters, which may have contributed to a declining interest on the part of Akhenaten in governing effectively.
    With Akhenaten's death, the Aten cult he had founded almost immediately fell out of favor. Tutankhaten, who succeeded him at age 8 (with Akhenaten's old vizier, Ay, as regent) changed his name to Tutankhamun in year 3 of his reign (1348 BC or 1331 BC) and abandoned Akhetaten, the city falling into ruin. Temples Akhenaten had built, including the temple at Thebes, were disassembled by his successors Ay and Horemheb, reused as a source of building materials and decorations for their own temples, and inscriptions to Aten defaced.
    Finally, Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay were excised from the official lists of Pharaohs, which instead reported that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. This is thought to be part of an attempt by Horemheb to delete all trace of Atenism and the pharaohs associated with it from the historical record.
    Other Atenism influences

    Two other significant discoveries have been cited as evidence that Akhenaten's reign had an historical influence on the development of Judaism. The Amarna letters tell of a band of rebels, referred to as the Apiru, who were reported to be wreaking havoc in the empire. This reference has led to speculation that the report may be one of the earliest historical references to the Hebrew tribes.
    Further reading

    • Ahmed Osman, Moses and Akhenaten. The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus, (December 2002, Inner Traditions International, Limited) ISBN 1591430046
    • Aldred, Cyril, Akhenaten, King of Egypt ISBN 0500050481
    • Savitri Devi, Son of the Sun: The Life and Philosophy of Akhnaton, King of Egypt (Supreme Grand Lodge of A.M.O.R.C, 1956)
    • Mika Waltari, Egyptian: A Novel (Fictional adventure centered around the consequences of the life of Pharaoh Akhenaten) ISBN 1556524412
    Retrieved from "http://www.book-of-thoth.com/thebook/index.php/Atenism"
    Categories: Egyptian mythology




     
    CULCULCAN, Jan 19, 2015
    #10
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